The Ace Up Our Sleeve
by theatreChapter
Summary: WARNING! SPOILERS TO ACE OF HEARTS AND ACE OUT! READ THOSE FIRST! Ace is back and more confused than ever. Derek's her brother? She's a what? A were-faerie? Well, at least she still has her two best friends to help her through this-oh wait! There's an Alpha pack that's taking up all of their time! Will they ever catch a break?
1. Episode 1

**A/N: If you're reading this, then you have already read Ace of Hearts and Ace Out. If you haven't, please go read those first. If you don't you'll be thoroughly confused. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**The link to Ace's outfit in this episode is on my profile! Please read and review!**

"Boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture," the tattoo artist said sarcastically.

Scott didn't catch the sarcasm and nodded, but I started giggling from my place next to Stiles.

"Hey, Scott. You sure you don't want something like this?" Scott gave Stiles a look as I rolled my eyes. "Too soon? Alright. I don't know man, are you sure about this? I mean, these things are pretty permanent, you know?"

"I'm not changing my mind."

"Okay, but why two bands?"

"I just like it."

"But don't you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning or something?"

"Stiles, leave him alone. If he likes the tattoo, then he should get it," I defended before whispering, "Besides, he's the one wasting his money."

"Getting a tattoo means something and it's not a waste of money," Scott said, clearly hearing what I'd just said.

"I don't think that's-"

"He's right. Tattooing goes back thousands of years. The Tahitian word tattoo means-"

"-to leave a mark." I said, feeling my eyes glow for a second. I closed them and pressed my face into Stiles' shoulder so that the tattoo artist wouldn't see. Stiles wrapped an arm around me as the artist kept talking.

"You okay?"

I nodded, glancing up at him. "Yeah. Just a headache."

"He gets it."

"He's covered in tattoos, Scott," Stiles said, running a soothing hand up and down my back. "Literally."

"Okay, you ready?" Scott nodded. "You, uh, you ain't got any problems with needles, do ya?"

"Nope."

"I tend to get a little squeamish though," Stiles said moving closer to see before passing out for a second.

Sighing, I looked at Scott. "I'll take him outside."

Scott nodded as I kneeled next to Stiles. Shaking his shoulder, I said, "Stiles, come on. It's just a needle. They're not even that bad."

"You're not scared of needles?" He asked, coming back to me.

I just looked at him. "You're asking the girl that has given blood as many times as possible if she's afraid of needles."

"Oh, right." Stiles remembered as I helped him off the floor.

He turned to glance back at Scott, but I pulled his face toward mine. "Nope. You're not passing out on me again."

"_I'm sure that's not the first time_," I heard Scott say so that only I could hear it.

A hot blush formed on my cheeks as I pulled Stiles out of the store. "_You're gonna pay for that one_."

"What?" Stiles asked, having seen my lips move but not hearing anything.

"Nothing," I said, placing a kiss on his lips to distract him.

It worked a little too well. He moved to deepen the kiss, pressing me up against the brick wall. When he slipped his hand under my shirt I gasped and tilted my head back, giving him access to my neck.

"Stiles, stop," I gasped out, pushing him away. "Scott's done."

"That was too fast," he grumbled, righting my shirt as Scott walked out of the parlor.

Scott breathed in deep and then blushed, smelling the arousal on both of us. "Really guys, you had to do that here?"

"Relax, we didn't do anything too bad," I said as I punched his shoulder. "Let's go."

I climbed into the passenger seat after Scott opened the door for me. He climbed in next to me, hissing a little.

"You okay?"

"It kind of burns."

"Yes, you just had your skin stabbed about a hundred thousand times by a needle."

"Yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to feel like this." Scott said. Then he flinched. "Ah, God. No it's definitely not supposed to feel like this. I gotta take this thing off."

"No, no, no!" Stiles said, turning the other way. "Stop, oh, Scott, please, stop!"

Scott pulled off the wrap to see his tattoo disappearing. "Ah, no. What? No, no, come on. It healed."

"Ah, thank god, I hated it," Stiles said, forcing me to punch his arm. "Ow! Sorry. So, how are things with you and Allison?"

"Seriously, are you the king of awkward conversations?" I asked as we headed out of the parking lot. "Scott, you don't have to-"

"No, I think I should talk about it." Scott said, cutting me off.

I nodded. "Well, have you two seen her all summer?"

"No, we agreed to give each other the summer. No texts, no calls."

"So how do you know she won't be back at school then?" Stiles asked, looking at Scott. Then he leaned forward a bit, confusion flooding his face. I followed his gaze and saw Lydia and Allison in the car next to us.

"After everything that happened, I'm not sure she's coming back at all."

"I think she is. I'd say pretty definite, you know. Like 100%." Stiles said.

Scott was still confused, so I turned his face toward the window. He stared until Allison looked over and saw him. "Oh my god."

Stiles and I waved to Lydia. Scott started to panic. "Can you just please drive, Stiles?"

"Scott, it's a red light."

"I think we should talk to them. We should say something."

"No," Scott and I agreed.

Stiles leaned over and rolled down the window, calling out a greeting to Lydia and Allison. I groaned and Scott continued to freak out. That's when Lydia hit the gas and blew the red light.

"They probably didn't see us," Stiles commented.

I looked at him. "You're an idiot."

The light turned green and Stiles hit the gas. Scott glanced at me and then turned to Stiles. "What are you doing?"

"Driving."

"We're right behind them."

"Okay, well do you see any turns?"

"I don't want to feel like we're following them."

"Well what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, anything!"

Stiles hit the brakes. I watched as Lydia slowed to a stop in front of us. We stood at a standstill until a deer crashed through their windshield. Their doors opened, but I was already standing next to Lydia, pulling her out of the car.

"Are you alright?" I asked as the boys reached us.

"Are you okay?"

"It came out of nowhere!"

"Are you hurt?"

"It ran right into us."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay."

"Well I'm not okay! I am totally freaking out, how the hell does that just run into us?" Lydia screeched.

"I don't know, but I'm glad you're not physically hurt," I said, hugging the both of them.

"I saw its eyes right before it hit us," Lydia said as they pulled away. "It was like it was…it was like it was crazy."

"No, it was scared." Scott said, reaching out and putting a hand on it. "No. Terrified."

* * *

><p>"Ready for your first day?"<p>

"Mom, it's not like it's my _first_ day." I said as I grabbed a few pancakes and sat down at the breakfast bar.

Ty looked up at me. "Technically it is."

"Dude, shut up," I said, stuffing the pancakes in my mouth.

Ty stuck out his tongue, so I did the same. "Ew, gross! Chewed up pancake!"

"That's what you get," I teased as my mom started laughing.

"Ace, please don't ever grow up."

"Don't plan on it!" I said, before hearing a car horn outside. "That'd be Lydia. I'll be off!"

"I thought Stiles was driving you," Ty said, confused.

"Lydia wants to 'approve my outfit.'" I said, using air quotes. "Knowing her, she'll have a spare just in case."

"I approve," my mom said, looking at me.

I was wearing a black blouse with red skinny jeans. As for jewelry, I was wearing a bunch of gold necklaces and the earrings Stiles had given me last year. My hair was in a bun with a red bandana as a headband (tied in the front). Lydia probably wouldn't approve of my flip-flops, but she had to compromise somewhere. Smiling at my mom, I grabbed my sunglasses and my backpack before heading out the door. "Don't forget, slumber party!"

"I won't!" I heard before the door slammed shut.

I could feel Lydia's eyes scanning my outfit before I hopped into her car. "Approve?"

"Yes because I know I'm not going to win with the flip-flops or the earrings, am I?"

"Earrings, never. Flip-flops…no."

"Well, then let's go!" She said, pressing the gas.

We got to school fairly quickly, meeting Allison at her locker. She gave us a bright smile and started telling me about her summer in France.

"Freshmen," Lydia commented, sighing. "Tons and tons of fresh men."

"You mean fresh boys." Allison reminded her, causing me to laugh. "Lydia, they're fourteen."

"Eh, some are more mature than others."

"You know, it's okay to be single. Focus on yourself for a little while. Work on becoming a better person."

"Allison," Lydia scoffed. "I love you. So if we need to do that thing where we talk about me and pretend we're not actually talking about you…it's totally fine. But, I don't want a boyfriend. I want a distraction."

"A boyfriend _can_ be a distraction," I said, stealing Lydia's lip gloss and putting it on.

When I went to hand it back to Lydia, she was looking over my shoulder. I turned around to see what she was staring at.

"Brothers?"

"Twins." Lydia breathed.

I rolled my eyes and nudged her. "I don't think they'll want to see you drooling."

That snapped her out of it and she plucked her lip gloss right out of my hand. "Schedules?"

"We've got first period together," I noted, seeing English written across the tops of our sheets.

Lydia nodded and turned before glancing back at us. "Well?"

We walked into English together and I took a seat behind Stiles. He turned around and smiled. "I thought we were meeting up this morning."

"Thank Lydia for wanting to be 'fashionably late.'" I quoted, giving him a kiss. When I glanced up, I grimaced. "That's gonna be awkward."

Stiles and Lydia followed my gaze to Allison, who was asking Scott if the seat in front of him was empty.

"No! No, no, no, no. It's all yours. Uh, it's totally vacant." Scott said, before turning to look at us. Stiles gave him a sarcastic thumbs up while I was hiding my giggles behind my hand.

That's when all of the phones in the class went off. "What the-"

"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the Earth floats somber over an overcast sky seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness. This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone."

Looking up at the teacher, I switched my phone to silent. No way was I going to turn it off.

We got started on reading, but after about twenty minutes we were interrupted.

"Mr. McCall?" Ms. Blake said, causing a few of us to look up. I kept my head down, wanting to have a good reputation with this teacher.

I heard Scott leave the room and tried to listen in on their conversation, but Stiles turned around. "You're sleeping over tonight right?"

"Duh," I whispered back, love shining in my eyes.

Stiles smiled and then turned back, but his eyes stopped on Lydia. "Hey, Lydia! What is that, is that from the accident?"

"No, Prada bit me."

"Your dog?"

"No, my designer handbag," she quipped, forcing me to stifle more laughter. "Yes, my dog."

"Has he ever bitten you before?" He asked. She shook her head. "Okay, what if it's like the same thing as the deer? You know, like how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?"

"Meaning what? There's going to be an earthquake?"

"Or something. Maybe it means something's coming. Something bad."

Lydia replied to Stiles, but I didn't feel it. A wave of panic hit me and I jumped out of my seat as a bird flew straight into the window. The rest of the class, including Ms. Blake, turned to the window. I could hear more birds crowing and saw them heading for the window.

"I am _not_ sticking around for this," I said, grabbing Lydia and Allison and heading for the door. Stiles quickly followed. Ms. Blake held out and arm to stop us, but I pushed past her. Just before we got into the hallway, the birds broke through the windows.

Ms. Blake started screaming for everyone to get down, and the four of us huddled in the corner. I turned to Stiles, my eyes glowing purple. "We'll be fine."

The birds were a part of the skies, and with me still technically being a sylph, I could control them. Well, to a point. I couldn't get them to calm down, but I could keep them away from us.

As soon as the attack stopped, the whole class stood and looked around. I looked at my friends. "What the hell happened?"

"I have no idea," Lydia said, shaking a little.

"You," I said, pointing to a random classmate. He looked up at me with wide eyes. "Call the police. I'm going to go get the nurse."

Stiles grabbed my arm. "Ace-"

"Not now Stiles, people are hurt." I said, brushing him off. Then I headed out the door and down the hall. Luckily the nurse's office wasn't too far.

When I walked in, she looked up. "Ah, Sophia Rider. Playing sick again?"

"I got over that a long time ago, Emma," I said as I stepped into the room. "We need you in Ms. Blake's room. There's a lot of people hurt."

"What happened?" She asked as she got up and followed me down the hall.

"It's…complicated," I said, gesturing once we reached the room.

She gasped and ran inside to the first student that was hurt. I was surprised to see that there were police arriving already. Sheriff Stilinski walked in and saw me. "Sophia, you were here. What happened?"

"We were just sitting here when one bird hit the window. Then a whole bunch of them started hitting the windows. They ended up breaking through and attacking everyone."

"You don't have a scratch on you," he noted, raising an eyebrow.

I bit my lip. "Maybe the birds don't like my perfume?"

"You don't wear perfume."

"Not usually, but Lydia sprayed me with some this morning."

He nodded before moving on to someone else. I turned to find Stiles pulling a feather out of Ms. Blake's hair. When he saw me looking at him, he walked over. "How did you know about the birds?"

"Hmm?" I asked, blinking up at him.

Stiles raised an eyebrow. "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I've known you for years, I know when you're trying to hide something. You knew about the birds, if jumping out of your seat was any indication. How?"

"It's a fae thing," I said, biting my lip. "Since birds are a part of the air kingdom, I could sense their distress. That, and my werewolf senses kicked in."

"Mr. Argent," I heard Sheriff say, my eyes following him. "You wouldn't have any insight into this, would you?"

Stiles wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. "Do you think he did this?"

"No."

"All this bizarre animal behavior…you must've seen something like this before right?"

"Not sure why I would, or why you would think I would."

"I'm sorry, I could've sworn I heard my son talking about how you were an experienced hunter."

Mr. Argent looked over at us. I felt Stiles shift uncomfortably behind me, so I turned my head and kissed him. Our audience looked away after that.

"I don't hunt anymore."

I turned to look at Stiles after that, as he'd pulled his arms from me. He had his phone in his hand. "I'm calling Scott."

"Not in here you're not," I said, dragging him out of the school and next to the Jeep. Everyone was still getting checked over by the police, but we'd already been cleared.

Stiles put the phone on speaker. When Scott picked up, he started explaining. "We got a serious problem at school, Ms. Blake's class-"

"_Can you tell me about it later_?"

"Uh, no, Scott. We need to talk about this now." I cut in, irritated.

"_Alright then, meet me at Derek's_."

"Derek's house? What? What the hell are you doing-"

"_Just meet us here, okay_?"

The line went dead after that. Stiles looked confused. "Why would he be at Derek's house?"

"I don't-" I started before pain started searing through my skull. Images started flashing through my head, too quickly for me to see. When they stopped, I could hear Stiles panicking next to me, trying to call for a medic. "Stiles, shut up! I'm fine."

"No you're not. You said you had a headache this morning. This was definitely not a headache. What's going on?" He demanded, glaring at me.

I swallowed hard, tears brimming in my eyes. "I don't know. But I do know that Isaac's hurt."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw a bunch of images in my head. I couldn't really make them out, but I saw Isaac and the hospital. It must be why Scott's at Derek's." I said, turning and opening the door to the Jeep. Stiles was staring at me. "Let's go!"

"Ace-"

"We have more immediate matters than me. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Stiles walked up to the front door of the Hale House, pausing to knock. I rolled my eyes and walked in, knowing that Derek and Scott both knew we were there anyway.<p>

Scott looked up at us when we walked in. He was sitting in a chair opposite Derek, who had Scott's arm in his hand.

"What's going on?" Stiles asked.

I felt my eyes flash purple. "Derek's fixing Scott's tattoo."

"How'd you know that?"

"Body language."

Derek and Scott both gave me a look, but I gave them one right back. Derek ignored me, but I knew that at some point he was going to press me about it. Instead, his eyes turned red as he looked at Scott's arm.

"Yeah, I see it. Two bands, right?" Scott nodded. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know. It's just…something I traced with my fingers." He explained, tracing it in the dust on one of the tables.

"Why is it so important to you?"

"Do you know what the word tattoo means?"

"To mark something," Stiles said, winking at Derek. I rolled my eyes, but slipped into his arms.

Scott nodded. "Well, that's in Tahitian. In Samoan, it means open wound. I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it _now_ to make it kind of a reward."

"For what?"

"For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to, even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. And four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a, uh-"

"Like an open wound," I finished, leaning back into Stiles. If anything ever happened to him, if he somehow got torn from my life, I would feel the same way. I felt him wrap his arms tighter around me, clearly thinking the same.

"Yeah."

Derek nodded solemnly before reaching over and grabbing a blowtorch. "Pain's going to be worse than anything you've ever felt."

"That's great," Stiles muttered.

Scott looked at him with wide eyes. "Do it."

"Oh, wow! Uh, that's a lot. That's a lot for me. So, I'm going to take that as my cue! We're going to wait outside."

Derek and I each grabbed one of Stiles' arms. Derek shook his head. "Nope. You're both going to help hold him down."

Stiles started to panic, but I rolled my eyes and pressed down on Scott's shoulders. "Well, there's nowhere for me to-"

Before he could back out, I grabbed his hands and forced them under mine, causing his chest to be pressed against my back. Then I glanced back at him. "It's just a little fire."

"Oh my god," Stiles said, looking past me at the blowtorch.

Derek leaned forward and pressed the fire to Scott's skin. I felt him transforming underneath our hands and pressed down harder. Stiles squeaked behind me, but I was worried about Scott so I ignored him.

Scott started to scream then so I moved Stiles' hands out of the way and pressed down as hard as I could. If I left bruises…well, Scott would heal.

After a few more seconds, I realized something that would work even better. Breathing deeply, I blew some faerie dust into Scott's face. His eyes fluttered shut as he passed out. Then I let go.

"Don't-" Derek started, before realizing Scott was unconscious. "What did you do?"

"A little bit of faerie dust and he'll be out for the next ten minutes. I figured it was better than holding him down, and easier too." I explained as I walked over to where Stiles had moved.

Derek nodded and quickly finished up the tattoo. Then he walked over to Stiles, who was practically cowering under his gaze. "Would you ever get a tattoo?"

"What?" Stiles asked, confused. "No, I hate needles."

"If she wanted one, would you go with her?"

"Derek, knock it off." I said, pushing him backwards a little. "You had plenty of time to interrogate him over the summer."

"I just want to keep you safe," Derek said, looking at me now.

I bit my tongue. "You can. Stiles isn't the enemy here though, is he?"

Derek's eyes narrowed a bit at that, but Scott gasped and sat up, causing an efficient distraction. "It worked."

"Well, looks pretty damn permanent now."

"Yeah. Kinda needed something permanent with everything that's happened. Everything just changes so fast. Everything's just so, uh…effemeral."

"Studying for the PSAT's?"

"Yep."

"Nice."

Scott opened the door and then stopped. "You painted the door. Why'd you paint the door?"

"Go home Scott."

"And why only one side?"

Scott held up a hand, claws out, and then trailed a claw down the door, scraping off the paint.

"Scott!" Derek called, heading over.

Scott ignored him, scraping off the paint until we could see a symbol.

"The birds at school, and the deer last night, just like when I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the alpha," Scott said, finally piecing everything together. "How many are there?"

"A pack of them. An alpha pack."

"All of them? How does that even work?"

"I hear there's some kind of a leader. He's called Deaucalion. We know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac, and I have been looking for him for the past four months."

"Let's say you find them. How do you deal with an Alpha pack?"

"With all the help I can get," Derek said, glancing at me and Scott. The four of us exchanged glances before a new voice broke the silence.

"Where is she?" Isaac said, sitting up in the other room. "Where's the girl?"

"What girl?"


	2. Episode 2

**A/N: Here's Chapter 2 of The Ace Up Our Sleeve. Sorry that it took so long, but between class, homework, and NaNoWriMo I haven't had much time. Oh, and if you want to put a face to the name, Ace sort of looks like Kayslee Collins only her hair is a bit more brown and her eyes are green.**

**Please remember to review! Constructive criticism is welcomed!**

* * *

><p><strong>LastGoodbyeStolenHeart: I'm glad that you're happy I'm continuing the series. And you read the first two in one day? You go, Glen Coco!<strong>

* * *

><p>"Mom, I'm home," I called after school the next day. Stiles had said something about a party, but I'd turned him down. My mom had wanted to go shopping today, and it was tradition, so I made sure that I didn't have plans. He'd simply nodded and told me he'd text me later.<p>

"I'm in my room, hun!"

Following the sound of her voice, I found my mom in the middle of her room, surrounded by clothes. "Did a tornado come through here?"

"Nearly," she said, without looking up. "I need more room in my closet, so I figured I'd give some of my clothes to Goodwill."

"Some? Mom, this is your whole closet!"

"I know, but I didn't know which ones were stylish and which ones weren't."

"Since when do you keep up with style?"

"Since my daughter started dressing more fashion-forward."

I blushed. "It's just because I've had Lydia's help."

"Still-can you help me?"

I laughed and sat down next to my mom, cracking my knuckles. "Let's get to work."

As soon as we got back from shopping, I turned my phone back on. My mom and I had a rule that we weren't allowed to have our phones on so that we'd focus on quality time. As soon as it started back up, it was going off non-stop.

"Everything okay?" My mom asked, hearing the continuous vibrating.

Reading through the texts quickly, I said, "No. Can you drop me off somewhere?"

"Sure, just tell me where to go."

I walked into the house, not expecting a party at all. Someone stopped me at the door, but Stiles and Scott saw me and waved them off.

"Stiles, what's going on?" I asked, worry filling my voice.

Scott snorted. "Oh, he didn't tell you that Heather kissed him and wanted to have sex with him?"

Stiles glared at Scott and then turned back to me. "Ace, I didn't initiate any of it."

"Did you do anything to stop it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-She caught me off guard."

"Stiles, would you have had sex with her?"

"What?! No!" Stiles cried, gathering me into his arms. "When she sent me upstairs to get a condom, I was going to hand it to her and tell her to try Scott instead. Ace, I love you way too much to do that to you."

A smile filled my face as I looked up at him. I saw pure love shining in his eyes as he looked at me. Sliding my hands up his chest, I kissed him hard. He must've been caught off-guard because he froze for half a second before he kissed me back as fiercely as I was kissing him.

When I pulled back, Scott was gone. "Oops. Guess we scared Scott off."

"I'm okay with that," Stiles said, starting to kiss down my neck.

Gasping, I said, "Stiles, wait."

He backed off, confused. "What's wrong?"

Images started flashing in front of my eyes again, but it wasn't nearly as painful as it had been the past few times. "Allison."

* * *

><p>"I don't see anything."<p>

"Then maybe you should get your eyes checked," I said, feeling bitter towards my brother.

"How is a bruise going to tell me where Boyd and Erica are?"

"It's the same on both sides. Exactly the same."

"It's nothing."

"Pareidolia. Seeing patterns that aren't there." Lydia said, causing everyone to look at her. "It's a subset of apophenia."

"They're trying to help."

"These two? This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle, thank you, and this one, who shot about thirty arrows into me and my pack."

Stiles decided to cut in with his thoughts, causing me to shake my head. "Okay, alright now, come on. No one died, alright, there may have been a little maiming, kay, a little mangling, but no death. That's what I call an important distinction."

"My mother died," Allison whispered.

"Your family's little honor code killed your mother. Not me."

"A girl is looking for Scott. I'm here to help him, not you."

"Wanna help? Find something real." Derek said, before he headed toward the door.

Scott followed him. "Give her a chance, okay? They're on our side now."

"Well then maybe you should tell her what her mother was actually trying to do that night."

* * *

><p>"Okay, what would a pack of Alphas want with Erica and Boyd?"<p>

"I'm not sure it's them they want."

"What, you mean like Derek? Like they're recruiting?"

Stiles' words were lost as the twins passed us. Scott and I both inhaled sharply, smelling the same thing on them. Alphas.

"Scott, Ace. You comin'?"

Scott and I nodded, following Stiles a bit blindly. Stiles looked extremely confused. Before we went into Coach's classroom, he pulled me aside.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Ace, you're distracted."

"No I'm-" I started, turning back to face him. My thoughts of the twins disappeared instantly as I found my back to the cold wall and Stiles a mere centimeter away.

"-distracted," he breathed, closing the distance between us.

The warning bell rang then, causing us both to jump. Blushing, we parted and headed into the classroom. Scott gave us a knowing look when we sat down, but didn't say anything.

"The stock market is based on two principles. What are they?" Scott raised his hand. "Yes, McCall, you can go to the bathroom. Anybody else?"

"No, Coach, I know the answer."

Coach laughed. "Oh, you're serious."

"Yeah, it's risk and reward."

"Wow! Who are you? And what have you done to McCall? Don't answer that. I like you better."

"Does anybody have a quarter? A quarter?"

"Yeah," Stiles said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a quarter, but a condom fell out of his pocket as well.

"Stilinski, I think you, uh, dropped this. Congratulations." Coach said as he reached down and picked it up. "That goes for you too, Sophia."

The class started laughing and I turned bright red. Stiles turned to look at me, but I shook my head, not wanting to draw any more attention to myself than was necessary.

"Risk and reward. Put the quarter in the mug, win the reward. Okay, watch Coach." One bounce and the quarter was in the cup. "Ah? That's how you do it. Okay, Danny. Risk, reward."

"What's the reward?"

"You don't have to take the pop quiz tomorrow."

"Coach, it's not a pop quiz if you tell us about it."

"Danny, you know I expect more from you at this point. Really. McCall. Risk, reward. The risk-if you don't put that quarter in the mug, you have to take the pop, the quiz and you have to write an essay. Risk-more work. Reward-no work at all. Or choose not to play."

"But isn't this just chance?"

"No. You know your abilities, your coordination, your focus, and past experience. All factors affecting the outcome. So what's it going to be McCall? More work, no work, or choose not to play?"

Scott spun the quarter a few times before putting it down on his desk.

"No play. Okay, who's next? Who wants the quarter?" Stiles was quick to volunteer. "There ya go! There's a gambling man. Come on! Step up, step up! Alright, Stilinski!"

"Stiles." Sheriff said as he entered the room.

Stiles was too focused on the quarter. "Yeah, Coach, I got it."

"Stiles."

As Stiles went out into the hallway, Scott and I tilted our heads, hearing every word that was said. My concentration was only broken when Danny managed to bounce the quarter in the cup.

"Yes! Reward! Who's next? Greenburg, put your hand down. You don't have a chance."

I raised my hand, surprising Scott. "Sophia, come on up."

"_No powers_." I heard Scott say as I took the quarter from Coach. Biting my lip, I bounced the quarter. It started to rim around the edge of the cup before it fell in. A smile lit up my face as Stiles walked back in.

"I did-" I cried, stopping when I remembered what had happened. "Stiles? You okay?"

He looked at me, how upset he was written across his face. I took a step forward, reaching for him, but Coach's arm stopped me. "No PDA in my class."

As soon as the words left his lips the bell rang. Grinning at him, I pulled Stiles into the hall and kissed him there. "Not in your class!"

Scott grabbed my backpack and handed it to me as we walked down the hall. Stiles quickly explained what he thought was going on. "So they kidnapped Heather to turn her?"

"Derek says it's easier to turn teenagers."

"But what would a pack of Alphas need with a Beta?"

"Scott, I don't know. I don't care. This girl…our moms were best friends before mine died. We used to take bubble baths together when we were three. I gotta find her."

"Then we need Isaac to remember."

"How? Peter and Derek couldn't do it, you know any other were-wolves with a better trick?"

"Does it have to be a were-wolf?" I asked.

Stiles looked at me. "No."

"But-"

"Ace, it takes a long time to learn that trick. If Peter and Derek couldn't-"

"Maybe it's a female thing."

"Ace, please."

"Alright, fine. Scott?"

"It's not a were-wolf, but someone who knows a lot about them."

* * *

><p>"Obviously it's not going to be particularly comfortable. But if we can slow your heart rate down enough, you'll slip into a trance-like state."<p>

"Like…being hypnotized."

"Exactly! You'll be half-transformed. It'll let us access your subconscious mind."

"I really don't need to see a teenage boys' subconscious mind," I mumbled, forgetting about the three werewolves in the room. When I heard Derek snort I blushed, but thankfully Scott saved me.

"How slow does his heart rate have to be?"

"Very slow."

"How slow is very slow?" Derek asked, not realizing that he was being cutely protective over his pack.

Deaton opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. "Nearly dead."

I was lucky that everyone was focused on Deaton…except, of course, Deaton. He was the only one that saw the momentary flash of purple in my eyes. I could tell he wanted to ask me about it, but once again I was saved by someone.

"It's safe though, right?" Isaac asked, pulling his hand out of the freezing water.

"Do you want me to answer honestly?"

"No. No, not really."

The tense moment was interrupted by a snap of a rubber glove. Derek and I both turned and gave Stiles a look. He looked at the two of us. "What?"

"Take it off." I said, crossing my arms.

"You know, usually when you say that-"

"Stiles, you won't finish that sentence if you want to keep that arm," Derek growled. He wasn't exactly comfortable with our relationship, but he knew that Stiles tried to keep me safe as much as he could and was grateful for that.

Stiles followed Derek's directions, slipping the glove off his arm before pouting. I sighed and moved into his arms, watching Derek's eyes follow us until I subtly flipped him off. Instead of focusing on me, he turned back to his pup.

"Look, if it feels too risky, you don't have to do this."

Scott nodded, seconding the statement. Isaac pulled his shirt off and let out a deep breath before climbing into the tub. Scott and Derek looked at each other before pushing him under.

A second later, Isaac was fighting them, struggling to get out. Stiles let go of me to help, but I backed up, hearing his thoughts fill my head.

_No, no, no! It's like the freezer, only it's my friends holding me down. I'll kill them when I get out of here! I'll kill them all!_

More and more of these thoughts filled my head. I covered my ears and sat down against the wall, tilting my head back. When I closed my eyes, vivid pictures started filling my head. I felt tears begin to stream down my face, but I knew that if I wasn't quiet then it wouldn't work.

All of a sudden, everything stopped. I looked up to see that he'd stopped fighting and had finally gone under. Wiping my face, I walked over and tugged on Stiles' wrist. Seeing my face, he pulled me into his chest and started rubbing my back.

"Now remember, only I talk to him. Too many voices will confuse him and draw him out." Deaton explained. "Isaac? Can you hear me?"

"Yes. I can hear you."

"This is Dr. Deaton. I'd like to ask you a few questions, is that alright?"

"Yes."

Having calmed down enough to pay attention, I spun in Stiles' arms, leaning my head back against his chest. His arms slid around me almost possessively, and I looked up to see Derek looking at me curiously. I shook my head and mouthed, 'Later.'

"I want to ask you about the night you found Erica and Boyd. I want you to remember it for me in as vivid detail as possible. Like you're actually there."

"No, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that! I don't want to do that!" Isaac repeated, starting to struggle again. The lights started to flicker as well.

The boys moved to hold him down again, but all it took was one touch from me and he stopped. Deaton continued.

"Now let's go back to that night. To the place you found Erica and Boyd. Can you tell me what you see? Is there some kind of building? House?"

"It's not a-it's not a house. It's, uh, stone. Like marble."

"That's perfect. Can you give me any other descriptors?"

"It's dusty. Empty."

"Like an abandoned building?" Deaton asked, before the lights started flickering again. "Isaac? Isaac?"

"Someone's here. Someone's here!" He said, grabbing Scott's arm.

"Isaac, relax."

"No, no, no, they see me! They see me!"

"Just memories. You can't be hurt by memories. Just relax. Relax. Good. Now tell us what you see. Tell us everything."

The light above the tub suddenly fell. Moving faster than I ever have, I jumped up, grabbed it, and flew backwards. Only when I landed did I feel the electric shock coarse through my body. I managed to throw it off me before I was thrust into Avalon.

"My dear, what are you doing back?" I heard, turning around.

My royal parents stood there, giving me a smile. "You seem to have a nasty habit of doing reckless things that make your mortal body unconscious."

"Do I get sent here _every_ time that happens?" I asked, feeling a headache start. Rubbing my temples, I looked up and saw the worry written on their faces.

"How often have you been getting headaches?"

"Pretty often. Maybe once a day now."

"Fayette, that's serious! Why didn't you let us know?" My mother cried, grasping my hands.

"Because, Mom. I can't see the fae anymore. Not since I learned my true parentage-in the mortal world."

"Your werewolf half is starting to take over." My father said, the sadness shining in his eyes. "It's not right for a werewolf to also be fae. We shouldn't have kept you fae this long. I knew this day would come, I was just hoping it'd be later rather than sooner."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"There's a way to take away your faerie side, right here, right now. But that means you'll never be able to come back here. You'll live as mortal a life a werewolf can live. You will die and you won't be able to return here to continue on."

"What happens if you don't do this?"

"Then your two halves will continue to battle each other until you go mad."

"Oh." I squeaked. "I can at least say goodbye, right?"

Mom nodded before opening her arms. I gave her a fierce hug and Dad joined us, wrapping his arms around the two of us. After a few moments, he withdrew and I followed his lead.

Placing a hand on either side of my head, he started speaking Latin. Unfortunately, I didn't know what he was saying. The last thing I heard was "I love you."

"She's not dead!"

I sat up, taking in a deep breath. "Of course I'm not dead!"

"Ace!" Stiles cried out, kissing my forehead. "You're alive!"

"What happened?" I asked, rubbing my head. "I remember being shocked and then nothing."

"I thought you said that last time you went unconscious that you went to Avalon," Stiles said, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe I didn't this time, I don't know." Derek was staring at me when I looked up at him. "What?"

"You smell different," Isaac said.

"What do you mean?" I heard Derek walking over to me and felt uneasy. I jumped to my feet, scrambling backwards. "Leave me alone."

"Oh, come on little faerie. Don't you want to play?" He cooed creepily, making me vault over the tub.

"Derek stop," I said, feeling terrified. He was acting like Peter and I didn't like it.

"Why?" He asked, backing me into the wall. Derek leaned in close, but nothing happened. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Scott holding Stiles back. Unfortunately, so did Derek. "If I can't scare you, maybe I can scare him."

One step toward Stiles was all it took. A growl leapt out of my throat as I spun Derek against the wall. "Leave him alone."

"You're strong for a Beta." Derek said as I put him down.

"What?!" I shrieked, nearly tripping over the tub. I looked in and saw my reflection. Glowing blue eyes stared back at me instead of purple. "I'm…a werewolf? But I thought…"

Suddenly everything in Avalon came back to me. "I'm not a faerie anymore."

"What? Is that even possible?" Derek asked Deaton.

"I've heard of it happening once, but this is the second case that I'm aware of. It seems to run in the family." Deaton mused.

"Can you elaborate on that?" I asked, giving Deaton my puppy dog eyes.

"Your grandmother was also a were-faerie for a short time. According to her, the royal family told her that if she didn't choose one or the other, she'd go mad."

"That's what they told me, but they didn't give me a choice."

"What would you have picked?" Scott asked.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. "I-I'm not sure exactly."

"Maybe that's why they didn't give you a choice." Isaac said. "They knew that you didn't know what you wanted, so they chose for you. If you ask me, they chose right. Aren't faeries afraid of werewolves? You would've had a hell of a time with the Alpha pack being here. And now Derek, Scott and I can help you with full moons."

"Who says I need help?"

"Ace, you're a new werewolf. Of course you're going to need help."

I crossed my arms. "No I won't. I already have an anchor. We've been together for almost a year."

Everyone turned to look at Stiles, who was gazing at me. When he noticed everyone was looking at him, he blushed. "What?"

"Were you not paying attention at all?" I sighed, running my hand through my hair. He shook his head, still blushing. "Why are you-oh."

I caught his scent then, turning red myself. Stiles looked guilty, but I pressed my lips to his cheek. "You smell amazing."

"Ace? That's…um…"

"I know," I said cheekily, grinning. "But it smells good to me."

"Don't distract him. He has to figure out how to break into a bank."

"What?"

* * *

><p>"Boys-and Sophia." I heard the next morning, sitting up. After I'd been informed on everything that happened while I was out, we headed to Stiles to figure out how to break into the bank. We must've fallen asleep because Sheriff was standing in the doorway. "Time to wake up. Boys. Boys!"<p>

Stiles flailed a bit as he got off the floor, pulling a paper off his face while I giggled. Scott nearly fell out of the chair he was in.

"I've got to get to work. You three get to school."

"Dad! Heather?"

"No, nothing yet."

"Ten hours and nothing." Stiles said as he started picking papers up around the room.

"We're going to find something."

"Finding something doesn't make Erica any less dead. Or Boyd any less about to be dead."

"Stiles, we still have time." I told him, as I grabbed my backpack. He was still grabbing papers, so I grabbed his arm. "Stiles, come on. We have to get to school."

"Oh. Dad! Dad?" Stiles screamed as he ran out of the room. Scott picked up the paper he'd dropped. The headline was about the bank robbery, but we were more focused on the picture. Sheriff Stilinski was the one making the arrest.

"Alright, so we meet at Derek's at five to go over the plan, then we don't get started until dark."

"Okay. So what do we do until then?"

"Um, school? We have English."

Stiles groaned as I dragged him inside the building. "Can't we just skip?"

"And have you moan about being bored all day? No." I said, tugging him along. "Besides, after school we have plenty of time until five. I'd rather hear you moan for other reasons."

"All the more reason to skip," Stiles said as Scott raced ahead of us, not wanting to hear our conversation.

Giggling, I shook my head. "Nope. You have to suffer through the day if you want any reward."

"Ace!" Stiles called after me as I raced to class. "Not fair!"

* * *

><p>"Okay. You see this? This is how they got in. It's a rooftop air conditioning vent. Leads down inside to the wall of the vault, which is here. Okay? One of the robbers was lowered into this shaft. Now, that space is so small it took them about twelve hours to drill into that wall, which is stone by the way. Then throughout the rest of the night they siphoned the cash back up to the guys on the roof through that one little shaft in the wall. Boom."<p>

"Can we fit in there?" Scott asked.

"Yes we can, but very, very barely. And they also patched the wall obviously, so we're going to need a new drill of some kind. I'm thinking maybe a diamond bit-"

"Forget the drill," Derek said, cutting Stiles off.

"Sorry?"

"If I go in first, how much space do I have?"

"What are you going to do, punch your way in?" I asked, a bit skeptical.

Derek gave me a look. "Yes. I'm going to punch through the wall."

"Okay big guy, let's see it, let's see that fist. Big ole fist. Make it, come on. Get it out there, don't be scared. Big bad wolf, yeah, look at that. Okay, see this? That's maybe three inches of room to gather enough force to punch through solid-"

Derek, clearly irritated, punched Stiles hand, sending him into the desk. I ran over to him. "Derek! Leave him alone! Stiles, are you okay?"

"He can definitely do it," he said, rubbing his hand.

I glared at Derek before pulling Stiles over to the couch. He and Peter started arguing, but I tuned them out. "Let me see it."

Stiles gingerly held out his hand. I put one of mine underneath to hold it up and he winced. I carefully looked it over before dropping it. "You'll be fine. It's not broken, but it might be fractured. We'll go talk to Deaton later."

Nodding, he pulled me back to the conversation. "Do I have to remind you what we're up against here? A _pack_ of Alphas, all of them killers. And if that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant Alpha. I'm sure Erica and Boyd are sweet kids, they'll be missed."

"Can someone kill him again please?" Stiles asked.

I nodded. "Seconded."

"Derek? Seriously not worth the risk." Peter said before crossing his arms.

"What about you?"

"Yeah, if you want me to come-"

"Not you!" Derek said, looking at Scott.

"Hey, why don't I get a shot?" I asked, forgetting that Peter hadn't exactly been informed of my new status yet.

"Oh, yes, let's pit a faerie against a werewolf. That ended so nicely for you last time."

Rolling my eyes, I let them glow. "That look purple to you?"

For once, he was silent. I turned back to Derek. "Why can't I go?"

"You're a Beta."

"So is Scott."

"You're a new Beta."

"That already has control."

"I don't want you to get hurt," Derek said, and I could smell that he was being honest. "I know I haven't been around, but I'm here now. You're one of the only family members I have left and I don't want you to die."

"Is that why he's here?" I asked, pointing to the still silent Peter. Derek gave me a look. "Okay, okay. Scott?"

"I don't know about Erica, but if Boyd's still alive we have to do something. We have to try. But, who's the other girl? The one locked in there with Boyd."

* * *

><p>"I can't take waiting around like this. It's nerve wracking. My nerves are wracked, they're severely wracked."<p>

"I could beat you unconscious and wake you when it's over."

Rolling my eyes, I positioned myself between Stiles and the window. "Don't worry. Everything'll go according to plan."

"How do you know? What if Derek turns on Scott? What if Boyd kills the both of them? What if-"

I silenced him with a kiss. "Stiles, relax!"

Stiles looked at me with darkened eyes and I could smell his heightened arousal. Which means that Peter could too.

"You know, as much as I don't like Stiles, if kissing him is the only way to shut him up then be my guest." He said, leaning back and closing his eyes.

Stiles grinned at me, sliding a hand up my back. "I never thought I'd say this, but that's a great idea."

"Sti-"

I was cut off as he pulled me to him and slammed our lips together. I tried to pull away, but melted into him when he sucked my lower lip into his mouth. I started sliding my hands up to his neck when I realized that we had an audience and pulled back. Stiles was still looking at me with dark eyes and I knew that I had to kill off his arousal.

"Do you think Erica's really dead?"

"I really don't care," Peter said, reminding Stiles that he was there.

I watched the darkness leave his eyes then. "Why the bank?"

"Right. Why wouldn't they chain them up in some underground lair or something? They're an Alpha pack, right, so shouldn't they have a lair?" He said, gears turning. As he thought, his arms left me and he started to pace.

I moved and sat on the other end of the couch, forcing Peter to pay attention. "They're werewolves, not Bond villains."

"Wait a sec. Wait a sec! Maybe they're living there. You know? Like maybe the bank vault reminds them of their little wolf dens!"

"Hey, watch your wording," I said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't live in a wolf den."

"So your room isn't constantly dark? And you don't have curtains around your bed?" Stiles pointed out.

"I can see in the dark and the curtains are in case there's a murderer. I might have a chance of strangling them before they kill me." I defended.

"Where do you live?" Stiles asked Peter, trying to prove his point.

"In an underground network of caves hidden deep in the woods."

"Woah, really?"

"No you idiot. In an apartment, downtown."

"Okay fine. But still, that just proves that there's something up at the bank. And why wait around for the full moon, huh? Why not just kill them whenever they want to?"

"Maybe they think it's poetic."

"They've already had three full moons to be poetic."

"And here you've only had one full hour to be so annoy-"

When Peter abruptly stopped, I knew something was up. He never missed a chance to pick on Stiles.

"No, go ahead. Finish what you were saying. I'm annoying you, what were you going to say there?"

"What are the walls made of?"

"What?" Stiles asked, looking around. "I don't know, like wood and brick."

"No, the vault, the vault. The walls, what are they made out of?" I followed Stiles over to the table. Peter started flipping through the papers. "Where would it say that? It doesn't say anything. Where would it say the materials, the type of stone?"

"Uh, oh! Hang on. Yeah. Here, hang on, here. It's gotta be in there." Stiles said as he handed Peter a stack of papers that were clipped together.

We skimmed through the papers as fast as we could. Peter and I would've missed it if Stiles hadn't pointed it out. "That's it, there!"

"Hecatalight."

"Is that awful, that sounds awful."

"Get him on the phone. Call him. Now!"

"Okay, why?"

"Cause Boyd and that girl aren't going to kill each other. They're going to kill Derek and Scott."

Stiles scrambled to pull out his phone and dial Scott.

"_Stiles, now is not the best time._"

"Scott! Scott, no, listen to me. You've gotta get out of there! The walls of the vault are made with a mineral called Hecatalight, it scatters the moonlight."

"_What does that mean?_"

I grabbed the phone. "It keeps the moonlight out! They haven't felt the full moon in three months!"

Peter tilted my hand down so he could talk. "Think of it like the gladiators in the Roman colosseum. They used to starve the lions for three days to make them more vicious, more out of control. Deaucalion has kept them from shifting for three full moons, diminishing their tolerance to it."

"Scott they're going to be stronger."

"More savage, more bloodthirsty. Scott, they're the lions. They're the starved lions and you and Derek just stepped into the colosseum."

"_Derek, we got a problem, a really big problem._"

"_Cora?_"

"_Who?_"

"_Cora?_"

"_Derek, get out. Get out now!_"

"Scott? Scott!"

"_No! No wait!_"

Growling filled Scott's end of the phone.

"Scott! Scott are you hearing this? Scott!"


	3. Episode 3

**A/N: Hey, sorry that it's taken so long. I've had a bit of writers block, and the shortness of this chapter proves it. However, there is a cute Ridinski moment at the end of it so hopefully that makes up for it!**

* * *

><p><strong>Kayela-Brown-1228: I went back and fixed the first chapter by putting the dividing lines in. I was planning on doing that, but completely forgot. As for the dialogue, I'm sorry about that one too. Sometimes I get too caught up in the episode and forget that not everyone is rewatching like I have been. I'll try to make sure I put who is talking as much as often as I can remember.<strong>

**LastGoodbyeStolenHeart: I stick to the story so easily because I'm trying to make sure I'm watching the episode as I'm writing it. And I'm glad you like Ace and Stiles. I'm not planning on breaking them up anytime soon (if at all), so there'll be more cute moments to come.**

* * *

><p>"Lydia?" Stiles and I called as we hopped out of the Jeep. She'd called, frantic about something, but I couldn't understand what she was saying, even with my werewolf hearing.<p>

"Are you okay?" I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder when I got close enough.

"Over there. Not okay."

Stiles and I looked up and saw the dead body of a lifeguard. I pulled Lydia into my arms, hugging her, trying to reassure her.

"Yeah. I'm going to call my dad."

"I already called 911." Lydia said as she pulled out of my grip.

"You called the police before you called me?"

"I'm supposed to call you first when I find a dead body?"

"Yes!" Stiles yelled, causing me to glare at him.

"Knock it off. It's not as if she knew that," I said, defending her. "Why don't you call Scott?"

* * *

><p>"<em>Are you sure?<em>"

"Yeah. Throat ripped out, blood everywhere. It's like the freaking Shining over here. If we have two little girls come out of the woods and start asking me to play with them forever and ever I'm not going to be surprised."

"_Can you get a little closer to make sure it was them?_"

"Make sure it was them? Scott, who else is going around ripping throats out?"

"_Please, just do it._"

Stiles looked extremely uncomfortable, so I grabbed the phone and walked straight up to it. Looking over at all the wounds, I sighed. "Scott? It definitely looks like a werewolf did it."

"_Ace, we might need your help catching Boyd and Cora. How fast can you meet us?_"

"Depends. Where are you guys headed?"

"_I'm not sure yet_."

"Scott, do you even have a plan to catch them?"

"_Not yet._"

"Text me where to meet you when you have a plan," I said before hanging up.

Stiles looked at me. "What was that about?"

"They need more of a pack to try to catch Boyd and Cora."

"Cora? Who's Cora?" Lydia asked. "And why do she and Boyd need to be caught? And I thought you were a faerie."

"Long story, we'll have to catch you up later," I told her.

Stiles shook his head. "Absolutely not. You could get yourself killed if you go after them. They haven't seen the full moon in three months, Ace. _Three_. They're rabid, they're dangerous-"

"Which is exactly why I have to help. Stiles, if they were the ones that were here, then they took an innocent life. We can't let it happen again."

"_If_ it was them?"

"It looks like a werewolf did it, but I'm not convinced that it was either of them. It just…smells wrong."

"It smells wrong. Well, thank goodness we have that lead to go off of." Stiles ranted, throwing his hands in the air. "Ace, I don't want you to die!"

"And I don't want innocent people to die!" I cried, trying to stay under control. I could feel my heart starting to race out of anger, and it didn't help that my anchor was the one I was mad at.

Stiles could tell I was starting to have issues and immediately backed off. He pulled me to him and pressed his forehead against mine. "Just…be safe. If you died, I don't know what I'd do."

"You really think Scott is going to let me die? Or Derek? I'm pretty sure that even Isaac wouldn't let me die." I pointed out.

"I know, but if it's between dying and saving them-"

"I'll leave Derek to the saving. I'm just another sheepdog," I told him, giving him a quick kiss as my phone went off. "That's Scott."

"Stay safe."

* * *

><p>"Okay, we're going to wait here until-Ace!"<p>

I headed across the parking lot, catching the grocery bag that fell. "Hello Mr. Argent!"

He whirled, pointing a gun first at my head and then at Scott's, who'd caught up to me. I brushed past him, setting the bag down gently in his car. "I bet you're glad I caught it. This one has eggs in it."

"What are you doing here?" He asked as I moved to stand next to Scott.

"We need your expertise. A few rabid werewolves are loose. Derek's sister and one of his pack." I explained.

Scott nodded. "We were hoping you could help us."

"First of all, why would I care about anyone related to Derek, and second, I don't know this kid Boyd. I don't even know his last name."

"Boyd is his last name!"

"What's his first name?"

"Vernon."

Mr. Argent made a face, and I cleared my throat. "Um, and about the whole 'why should I care about a Hale' thing…if you want to be technical, then I'm a Hale too."

Surprisingly, the gun didn't move from Scott. "Why is the gun still pointed at me?"

"There's probably some part of me that wants to shoot you."

"I get that."

He put his gun away, sighing. "Scott, Sophia. I watched my father brainwash my daughter. Almost turned her into a killer. That world, your world, decimated mine. My wife, sister, father, my entire family. Why would I ever step foot in it again?"

"Because people are going to die. And because you know how to catch Boyd and Cora without killing them."

"I'm sorry. But I can't help you."

"Uh…you think you could do me a tiny favor?" Scott asked, waving me off.

Huffing, I climbed into Derek's car. Isaac twisted around. "So, is he going to help?"

"Not sure. I don't know what Scott's planning." I said as Derek followed Mr. Argent. "Knowing him and his amazing ability to get people to help him, then Argent probably will."

"Amazing ability to get people to help him?" Isaac repeated.

"Oh, shut up. I didn't know how to word it." I said, punching him in the shoulder.

"OW! Derek's right, you are a strong Beta."

"Imagine if I was an Alpha. I could eat you up," I teased, seeing Derek's slight smirk in the mirror.

Isaac swallowed hard and turned back around. Thinking I'd won, I smiled triumphantly.

"I don't think Stiles would like that."

I gaped at him, cheeks starting to flame. "That's not-Isaac, you know that's not what I meant!"

"You sure?"

"I'm sure you don't taste as good," I retorted, watching his cheeks turn red.

Derek growled, clearly uncomfortable with our conversation. "That's enough."

* * *

><p>"Tracking them by print?"<p>

"Trying to."

"Well, you've been wasting your time. There's only one creature on Earth that can visibly track footprints. And that's man. And if you're not trained like me then you have no idea that this print is Boyd's, these-"

"-are Cora's." Isaac said smugly.

"Nope. They're yours. You trampled Cora's as soon as you walked over here. Listen, I know the four of you are focusing half your energy on resisting your own urges under the full moon. But that puts you at a severe disadvantage to Boyd and Cora, who've given in. They put the pedal to the floor while you four are barely going the speed limit."

"So what do we do?"

"Focus on your sense of smell. Actual wolves are known to track their prey by up to a hundred miles a day, by scent. A trained hunter can use scent to trap them. If the wind is with them, wolves can track a scent by a distance of two miles. Which means we can draw them to us, or into a trap." Mr. Argent explained, throwing a net at Scott. "The full moon does give us one advantage. They'll have a higher heat signature. Which makes them easier to spot with infrared."

He threw goggles to Isaac, Derek, and me. Derek threw them back. "Thanks, but I've got my own."

"Just remember, we're not hunting wild animals. Underneath those impulses are two intelligent human beings. Don't think they can't rely on that human side. It's repressed, but it's there. Reminding them how to mask their scent, how to cover their tracks, how to survive."

"When was the last time you saw your sister?"

"Not in years. I thought she died in the fire."

"Do you feel like you have a lock on her scent?" Derek shook his head, so Mr. Argent turned to someone else. "Scott? How confident are you in your skills?"

"Honestly, most of the time I'm trying not to think about all the things I can smell."

"All right. The problem is when they breach the woods and hit the residential area. Once they're past the high school they're right in the middle of Beacon Hills."

"They're not going to kill everything they see, are they?" Isaac asked, probably remembering when he'd tried to kill me and Stiles.

"No. But there is an important difference to recognize. Wolves hunt for food, at a certain point they get full. Boyd and Cora are hunting for the pleasure of the kill. For some primal apex predatory satisfaction that comes from the ripping of warm bodies to bloody shreds. And who knows when that need gets satiated."

"We can't kill them." Scott insisted.

"What if we can't catch them?" Derek asked.

There was silence for a beat before I spoke up. "What if we trap them? Hold them somewhere until morning."

"Is there anyone in the school at night?" Mr. Argent asked.

"You want to trap them inside?"

"If there's somewhere with a strong enough door. No windows or access to the outside."

"What about the boiler room?" Isaac offered. "It's just one big steel door."

"You're sure the school is empty?"

"It has to be. There can't be anyone there this late, right?"

* * *

><p>"These are ultrasonic emitters. It's one of the tools we use to corral werewolves. Pushing them into a direction we want them to run. It gives off a high pitched frequency that only they can hear."<p>

"Turn it off!" I screeched, covering my ears. The frequency was painful to hear.

Mr. Argent turned it off and then headed to his trunk. He handed each of the four of us an emitter.

"These are going to drive them to the school?" Derek asked.

"And then it's up to you to get them into the basement."

"Does anyone else want to rethink the plan where we just, uh, kill 'em?" Isaac asked. Derek and I gave him pointed glares.

Scott went for the reassuring route. "It's going to work."

I bit my lip and Derek raised an eyebrow. "It'll work."

We all headed off in different directions, making sure that we were corralling them rather than driving them away.

Scott and I ended up at the school around the same time. He stabbed his last emitter into the ground and turned it on.

"You and Isaac make sure that the doors are open," Scott said.

I nodded, turning and running to the doors, Isaac right behind me. We each grabbed a door and yanked it open. Instead of just opening mine, I accidentally tore it off a hinge. "Oops."

"Wow. You are _really_ strong for a Beta."

"Thanks, that's probably the fifth time I've heard that. Now let's go!"

We turned and saw Boyd and Cora standing there.

"Oh, great."

Isaac and I got ready to fight, but Mr. Argent pulled up and honked his horn. Boyd and Cora growled at him before heading for the door. Unfortunately for us, they decided to go over the school.

"The rear doors, someone has to get them open." I realized.

"I'll go," Mr. Argent said, pulling an electrical rod out.

"No," Isaac said. "I'm faster."

He took off as the rest of us headed into the school. Derek had thrown Cora into Boyd and they looked beyond angry.

"Come and get us," Derek said, taking off. Scott and I darted after him, following him into the boiler room. Thankfully, Cora and Boyd were right on our tail.

Grabbing fire extinguishers off the wall, we managed to confuse them with the cloud of powder. While they were disoriented we rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind us and locking it. Derek stood there and held the door until they stopped pounding on it.

"Did that actually just work?" Scott asked.

Derek nodded, not believing it himself. "It worked."

I sighed and pulled out my phone to check it, seeing about 12 missed calls and 23 texts from Stiles. "Oh my god, Stiles!"

* * *

><p>I burst into the hospital and took off down the hallway. Luckily, it wasn't too unusual for people to sprint in and know where they were going. When I ran into the room Stiles was in, he wasn't alone. He was talking to a girl on a hospital bed and Mrs. McCall was standing next to him.<p>

"Did they find her?" The girl in the bed asked, looking hopeful.

"Find…who exactly?"

"Emily. Did they find her?"

Realizing that she must've been one of the girls in the woods, I said, "I'm sorry, I don't know. But I'm sure they will, just give it some time."

"Then why are you here? Who are you?" She asked, tears starting to fall.

"No one." I told her, shaking my head. "I'm not important."

Stiles and I left the room then, letting Mrs. McCall deal with the girl. As soon as we were in the hall, Stiles turned to me. "Do you really think that you're not important? Ace, you're one of the most important. Without you, Scott would be lost. You come up with most of his plans, or help perfect them. Lydia wouldn't have anyone to force her fashion advice onto since Allison tries not to let her. Allison wouldn't have a friend to be rough with. Derek wouldn't nearly laugh as much. And as for me, I don't think I could function without you. You're my other half, my soul mate. Without you…I can't even imagine my life without you."

Tears were streaming down my face now, but I managed to not completely lose it. "Stiles…I didn't mean that I wasn't important. I just didn't want to get that poor girl's hopes up."

"Oh," Stiles said, starting to blush.

"Did you really mean all that?"

"Of course I did!"

I smiled at him as I pulled him closer, leaving a small gap between our lips. "I love you, completely, with all my heart and soul."

"I'd say the same, but you stole my heart a long time ago," he said, closing the gap between us. He put everything he'd been feeling into this kiss, and I threw just as much emotion back at him. It had been too long since we'd had so much raw emotion for each other and when our lips touched it was like the damn had burst.

"Ahem."

We broke apart, breathing heavily, to see Mrs. McCall standing there. She was giving us a look, but Stiles simply pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. She sighed. "If you're going to make out, you could at least find an empty room instead of standing outside a traumatized patient's room."

"I didn't intend for this to happen," I defended weakly, nuzzling further into Stiles.

"Uh-huh. Just find somewhere else, okay?" She said before walking away.

"So, what did you find out?" I asked, looking up at Stiles.

"Why don't we wait until Scott gets here?"

* * *

><p>Stiles started putting the sheet back over Heather, having explained what he'd figured out to me and Scott.<p>

"So, Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?" Scott asked.

"You're going to wish they did."

"Why?"

"I'm not exactly sure yet, but…the other girl who was out in the woods, Emily…eventually they're going to find her. She's one of them. Emily, Heather, the guy Lydia found at the pool. All three were virgins. And they're all going to have the same three injuries. Strangled, throat slashed, head bashed in. It's called a threefold death."

"Stiles, if these aren't coincidence, then what are they?" I asked as Scott and I looked at him.

"Sacrifices. Human sacrifices."


	4. Episode 4

**A/N: I felt bad for taking so long with the last chapter that I tried to get this one done a little quicker. It's still pretty short, but Ace will have a much bigger role to play in the next few (if I'm remembering correctly what the next few episodes are).**

* * *

><p><strong>red05: I'm glad you adore my stories and think they're excellent! At first I just was doing this because I wanted to give Stiles someone that understood him as much as Allison understood Scott. Now it's because I have a beautiful character that I want to see blossom and expand.<strong>

* * *

><p>It was surprising how quickly we'd adjusted to going to school right after discovering something new about our problems with the supernatural world. The guys had cross country the next morning, which I had promptly joined.<p>

I got dressed in the girl's locker room and then headed into Coach's office. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. You do know that cross country is not optional for-oh." He said, turning around. "You're on the cross country team? When did you join?"

"Coach, I was the first one signed up. You said that you wanted me to join since I'm also going to be on the lacrosse team. You didn't tell anyone about that yet, did you?"

He shook his head. "No, I've kept my promise."

"Thanks Coach," I said as I left his office and headed towards Scott and Stiles.

"Missing and presumed dead because he's probably a virgin, Scott, and you know who else is a virgin? Me! I'm a virgin, okay. And you know what that means? It means that my lack of sexual experience is now literally a threat to my life, okay? I need to have sex like right now. Someone needs to have sex with me, like today. Someone needs to sex me right now!"

The whole locker room went silent as I froze behind Stiles. Scott's eyes widened at the two of us. "You two haven't-"

I turned bright red as Stiles turned and saw me standing behind him. He pulled me to him and gave me a kiss, looking confused when I pulled away. I snuggled into his chest instead, trying to cool my flaming cheeks.

Thankfully, Isaac walked in just then and diverted everyone's attention as Coach started yelling at him for being late.

"Ace, I didn't mean for everyone to hear that," he whispered.

"I know," I said, looking up at him. "I just…this is going to spread like wildfire. Everyone just kind of assumed that we'd…you know."

Stiles nodded and then started to blush. "If you want to-"

"Let's not talk about this where other people can listen."

"No one can hear us."

I raised an eyebrow. "Scott, Isaac, knock it off."

Stiles turned and saw the two guilty werewolves awkwardly wave at us. Then he shook his head. "Let's go."

When we got outside, I was practically buzzing with energy. Stiles grinned at me. "Just how fast are you without wings?"

"I don't know yet!" I exclaimed, before a familiar scent filled my nose. The twins walked past the two of us, smirking at me.

"Uh, Ace?"

I looked to see that I'd grabbed onto Stiles' hand and was nearly crushing it with my werewolf strength. I let go immediately. Coach blew the whistle then and I blew past Scott and Isaac, completely ignoring their cries after me.

I caught up to the twins and tailed them. Isaac caught up to me a few seconds later. As we ran around a curve, we lost them.

Isaac, who'd stopped first, was suddenly pushed down the hill. The twins held him on his knees and I yelled, "Hey!"

The twins looked at me and laughed. I smelt Scott then and took off. Isaac must've smelt him too, because he didn't look offended.

I was hoping I could get to Coach before anything too bad happened. I found the trail that we were supposed to keep to and sprinted down it. I nearly took out Stiles when someone screamed, diverting my attention.

"Hey, where were you?" Stiles asked, panting.

"Twins. Scott. Isaac. Fight." I said, pointing as the ones I'd named ran up. Then I looked toward the chaos and gasped, covering my mouth. A body was tied to a tree, and it looked like he had the same three injuries that Heather had been subjected to.

"It's him, isn't it?" Stiles asked as Scott and Isaac joined us.

Someone must have called the police, because not more than three minutes later, Sheriff Stilinski showed up.

"Back up, everyone back up!"

Stiles moved. "Dad, just come here, look, look. It's the same as the others, you see?"

"Yeah, I see it. Do me a favor, go back to school. Coach! Give us a hand here."

"You heard the man, nothing to see here. Probably just some homeless kid."

"Coach."

"Yeah?"

"He was a senior."

"Oh. Wasn't on the team, was he?"

"No! Oh god, Kyle!" We all turned to see a girl run up screaming, being pulled back by the police. "Oh god!"

We started walking away, keeping an eye on the twins. They looked really confused by the body. Isaac was the first to speak up about it. "Did you see the way the twins looked at him?"

"Yeah, you mean like they had no idea what happened?"

"Ah, no. They knew."

"The kid was strangled to death! Am I the only one recognizing the lack of werewolfitude in these murders?" Stiles said, exasperated.

"You think it's a coincidence that they show up and people start dying?"

"Well, no, but I still don't think it's them."

"That poor girl," I said, tears bubbling in my eyes. "She has to be his girlfriend. Can you imagine-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Stiles said, turning my head to face him. I saw Isaac and Scott walk away out of the corner of my eye. "Ace, don't even start thinking about that. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

"What if you're next?" I whispered. "What you said this morning…what if you're right?"

"What, that virgins are being sacrificed? I think we've established that I'm right."

"That's not what I meant!" I cried. "What if being a virgin makes you a target? Scott, Allison, and Lydia are safe!"

Stiles stopped short, finally realizing what I was getting at. "Oh. Oh! You mean-um, you think we should-"

"Well, if it keeps us safe," I said, feeling the burn starting in my cheeks. I looked past Stiles to see Scott and Isaac looking amused in the distance. Giving them a look, I pulled Stiles to me and kissed him hard. What I wasn't expecting was him to deepen it so quickly, nibbling my lower lip and slipping his tongue into my mouth.

"_Ah, gross_."

* * *

><p>Later that day, in science, I was bored out of my mind. Stiles had gone to the hospital to talk to Kyle's girlfriend to see if his theory was true. I told him that I wanted to go with him, but he told me that I needed to stay with Scott. I agreed, but I wasn't happy about it.<p>

I was doodling, not paying any attention to what was going on, until I heard Isaac speak up. "Mr. Harris, can I use the bathroom please?"

Mr. Harris waved his hand. The anger was rolling off of Isaac in waves, but I didn't know what to do about it.

"I have to go to the bathroom too."

"One at a time."

"But I really have to go. I mean like, medical emergency have to go."

"Mr. McCall. If your bladder suddenly exploded and urine began to pour from every orifice, I would still respond one at a time. Is that enough hyperbole for you, or would you like me to come up with something more vivid."

"No, no. That's pretty good." He said, sitting down.

I turned to him. "At least you tried."

That's when we heard a locker slam outside. Considering that there shouldn't have been anyone out there, Mr. Harris headed into the hallway to figure out what was happening. We found Isaac standing there, with Ethan lying at his feet, a little bloodied up. I looked down the hall to see Aiden walking away.

"What is this? What's going on?"

"You alright?" Danny asked, Ethan, helping him up.

"Yeah. He just came at me."

"Isaac. What the hell did you do?"

"Don't let it bother you. It's just lunch detention. If all they want right now is to piss you off, don't give in. They're just trying to get to you."

"It's not just me."

Scott and I looked over to see Aiden flirting with Lydia.

"_What about tonight?_"

"_Nope. Studying._"

"_I could help you._"

"_Do you have an IQ higher than 170?_"

After that I stopped listening. Lydia could handle herself, and she knew that if something went wrong, she could call loads of people to help her. When I turned back to Isaac, I saw that he was looking at Scott, a little amused.

"What?" Scott asked, sensing it.

"Now they're getting to you." Isaac said before the bell rang for lunch. He headed off to his detention and Scott headed toward the lunchroom.

"Hey, you coming?"

"I'm not really hungry," I said, feeling like something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what.

Scott picked up on it instantly. "I think Stiles is back if you-"

I focused on my hearing until I heard him talking to Boyd. I headed off in that direction, waving to Scott. I found Stiles in front of Kyle's locker.

"Oh yeah. Hey, so did you know Kyle?"

Boyd nodded, and waved at me as I slid to Stiles' side. "Yeah. We were in junior ROTC together."

"So you two were friends then?"

"I only had one friend. And she's dead too." He said, before walking off.

I turned to Stiles. "So what did you find out?"

"Kyle wasn't a virgin. But I don't understand why he got kidnapped."

"Hey, don't worry about it. There has to be some sort of pattern, we just haven't figured it out yet. Let's talk to Lydia, maybe she can piece something together. That and I want to keep an eye on her. Aiden was flirting with her earlier-"

"Say no more," Stiles said. "Do you know where she is?"

I cocked my head to the side, focusing my hearing once more. Oddly enough, I had the best hearing out of all the werewolves I knew, but my other senses weren't quite as sharp. "She's outside. Come on."

* * *

><p>"You know what, there's a temple in Calcutta that used to sacrifice a child every day? That's every day a dead baby, Lydia. Every day! Hey, you want to know what today is, it's dead baby day. Oh wait, no, that's every day. Because every day is dead baby day, yay!"<p>

"Why is he telling me this?" Lydia asked me.

I shrugged. "Where the hell are you going with this, Stiles?"

"Because Scott's dealing with the Alpha twins." When Stiles said that, Lydia stopped and looked at him. "You don't know about the twins?"

"Alphas?"

"Ethan and Aiden."

"Yeah. Yeah, I knew about them."

"Alright, good. So look, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that the murders maybe come in threes. Ancient people love things in threes, right? So maybe first it's three virgins, and then, I don't know, maybe it's three people who own little dogs."

"I own a little dog." Lydia said, understanding what Stiles was getting at. He gave her a look and she shook her head. "I am not getting rid of my dog!"

"You're not getting rid of your little dog?"

"No. And by the way, you cannot discern a pattern by a single data point, so stop trying."

"What? Okay, so I'm just supposed to wait around for someone else to die? I'm supposed to sit there and watch them die. Just wait for them to wither up and die right in front of me?"

"Wither?" Lydia and I questioned in unison.

"You know what I mean, die. Just in a hideously awful head bashed in, throat cut kind of way."

"Maybe it's not your job. You said it yourself, they were strangled with a garrote. That's a human thing to do. So, maybe just leave the figuring it out part to someone human."

"Someone like my dad?"

"No. I mean your dad. The sheriff." She said before she walked off.

"That didn't go as expected," Stiles commented. "But we did warn her about the twins, so maybe she won't go near them anymore."

I snorted. "Please. If anything, she'll try to figure out what Alpha werewolf sex feels like."

"That's not a bad idea." He whispered, placing his hands on either side of my head. I could see his eyes darkening as he licked his lips. I felt goose bumps erupt all over my body as I shivered under his gaze. He leaned in toward me…and then the bell rang.

I groaned in frustration, tilting my head back against the lockers. "Off to English."

"Actually, I'm going to go see how my dad is doing."

I nodded, placing a kiss on his lips. "M'kay. Text me."

He returned the kiss before walking off. I turned and headed toward English. Before I got there, I ran into Scott, who was looking very smug. "What did you do?"

"You'll see," was all he told me as we headed into the class room.

I sat down in my seat, eyes trained on him. He started pulling mechanical pieces out of his bike. "That looks important. I have no idea what this is."

I had to stifle my laughter as Aiden got up and ran out of the room. The entire class followed Mrs. Blake as she followed. Clearly, Aiden was much faster, but when we caught up with him he was on his bike. Isaac, Allison, and Scott all exchanges glances.

"Oh my god, I wish I would've been part of this." I said, high-fiving them all. "You're brilliant."

Ethan glared at the four of us, silently vowing revenge. I tilted my head and smirked, whispering just loud enough for him to hear, "_Wait until I get involved_."

* * *

><p>"I wish I could've seen their faces," Isaac told me and Scott as we headed out. "Did they look seriously pissed?"<p>

"Yeah. Kind of like that."

As we watched, they started taking off their shirts. I rolled my eyes. "Boys, if you're trying to impress, stop. I don't like the overly muscled type."

That's when they fused to become one werewolf. My eyes widened since I hadn't seen it before. Isaac rolled up his sleeves. "We can take him."

"Are you kidding?" Scott said, pushing me in front of him and grabbing Isaac.

We took off down the hall, but the wolf caught Scott and Isaac. He threw them down the hall before spinning and grabbing me. I let out a shriek and threw my head back, smashing it into their nose. He let out a roar, throwing me down the hall with much more force.

I landed on my back, hard. I rolled over, coughing up blood as the world spun. Black dots started to dance in my vision before the pain lessened. I looked up to see that Scott and Isaac had each taken one of my arms. Black veins spanned the three of us for a few moments before they let go.

"Thanks." I said hoarsely.

Click. Click. Click.

I turned around to see a blind man approaching the twins. They de-morphed and stood silent as he pulled the cap off his cane, revealing a spear. He swiped, hitting both of their cheeks. A line of red quickly formed, but they remained silent.

He put the cap back on his cane and walked away without even looking at us. The twins followed him in silent obedience.

"Who the hell is that?" I heard Isaac ask behind me.

"Deaucalion."


	5. Episode 5

**A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but with Thanksgiving and all it was a little hard to write. But, here's the next chapter for you guys.**

**By the way, I _really_ want you guys to let me know what you think of each chapter. I know that there really hasn't been much plot development in the past few chapters, but since I'm trying to go episode by episode I can only write with what I'm given. Instead, I've been trying to do a bit more character development. It'd be really helpful if you guys let me know if you think Ace has grown as a character, or if I've just completely failed at trying to make her grow. Also, let me know who you want to see her interact with. Obviously, she interacts with Stiles the most, but if you want some scenes with her and Lydia, or Allison, let me know! I'll do what I can to please you guys!**

"Greenburg. Go. Away." I said, glaring at him as I was going over the papers for the cross country meet. After what had happened at practice with Kyle, I told Coach that I wasn't comfortable being on the team anymore. He had begged me to stay, so I told him that I'd manage the cross country team instead of the lacrosse team.

Coach turned from talking to the driver and blew his whistle. "Back to your seat!"

Greenburg scowled, but left. I didn't need any distractions. Not after what had happened last night. I felt another tap on my shoulder then.

"Greenburg, I swear to-oh. Hi Isaac."

"You're still thinking about it too, aren't you?"

I nodded. "How can I not? If I'd only have gotten there earlier, if Stiles hadn't tried to make me stay…I could've helped."

"Sophia, at least you fought to get there. The tables completely flipped once you arrived. We actually had a shot. I don't think they expected you to be as strong as you were."

"Isaac! Back to your seat!" Coach yelled, blowing his whistle.

Isaac gave Coach a nod before heading back. I pulled my feet up and hugged them getting lost in memories.

"_We know where they are!" Scott announced as we walked into Derek's loft._

_Boyd, Cora, Derek, and Peter were all gathered around a table looking at something. I walked right up to them as Derek replied to Scott. "Same building as the Argents. We know."_

"_Cora and I followed the twins," Boyd said._

_Cora looked at me and Scott with disdain. Especially when Scott replied. "Well then they want you to know."_

"_Or, more likely, they don't care." Peter said, rolling his eyes._

_Scott walked up to my side as I said, "What the _hell_ are you guys doing?"_

"_Isn't it obvious? The schemers are scheming. Coming up with a preemptive strike."_

"_You're going after them?" Scott and I asked._

"_Tomorrow. And you're going to help us."_

"Sophia!" Coach said loudly, snapping me out of it. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Fine."

He gave me a look that said he didn't believe me, but didn't press the issue. "Why don't you go sit with Stilinski and McCall?"

"I'm good here, thanks."

Coach nodded before blowing his whistle again, getting up. "Two of you! Back in your seats. Jared, again? Car sick. Every ti-how do you even get on the bus? Look at me. No, don't look at me, look at the horizon. Keep your eyes on the horizon. McCall, not you too!"

"Coach, I'm good!" Scott called, not sounding convincing.

Even though I was mad at Stiles, I couldn't let Scott suffer. I got up and pushed past Coach, sitting down in front of my two idiots.

"Have you healed?" Stiles asked, pointing to where Scott was still bleeding.

I gasped. "Scott, you definitely should've healed by now."

Scott looked past me. "He's listening."

I turned to see that he meant Ethan. Stiles piped up. "Is he going to do something?"

"Not in front of this many people."

"Okay, what about the two ticking time bombs sitting right near him?"

"Give them some credit, Stiles. Boyd finds you annoying and hasn't skinned you yet."

"Wow. That's very reassuring." Stiles said sarcastically. "Wait-are you still mad at me?"

I glared at him before Scott broke the tension. "They won't do anything. Not here."

"What if they do, are you going to stop them?"

"If I have to." Scott replied.

I ignored the two of them, remembering the plan that got everyone nearly killed.

"_They're in the penthouse. Right above Allison." Derek explained, pointing at the blueprints for Allison's apartment building._

"_So, kill them first? That's the plan?"_

_Boyd nodded. "They'll never see it coming."_

"_Why is the default plan always murder? For once, can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?"_

"_You never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you?" Peter asked Scott. "Not that I disagree with him."_

"_I do," Cora said. "Why do we need this kid? Or his girlfriend?"_

_I laughed. "First of all, I'm not his girlfriend, little sister."_

"_Little sister?" Cora asked, turning to Derek._

_My eyes widened. "Oh, you didn't tell her yet did you? Surprise! I'm a long lost half-sister."_

_Cora glared daggers at me as Derek answered her. "This kid helped save your life. And you know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move."_

"_We can't beat a pack of Alphas."_

"_That's why we're going after Deaucalion. Just him."_

"_Cut off the head of the snake and the body dies." Added Boyd._

_I snorted. "Well, if we were trying to kill a Kanima, that metaphor might be useful. Deucalion's not a snake."_

"_He's a hydra," Peter said. "And like Scott said, they're all Alphas."_

"_Deucalion's still the leader."_

"_Let's hope so. Because do you know what happened when Hercules cut off one of the heads of the Hydra?"_

"_Two more grew back," I answered without thinking._

_Peter smiled at me. "Someone's been doing their summer reading."_

The bus suddenly stopped, throwing me into the seat in front of me. I grabbed my head. "Ow."

"You alright?" Stiles asked, slipping in to the seat beside me. He reached for me, but I pulled back.

"Fine." I said, about to turn out the window when I breathed in, smelling anger. My head snapped up and I saw Boyd glaring at Ethan. When I focused my hearing, I could hear how heavily he was breathing.

"Scott?" Stiles asked, trying to pull him back. "Where are you going?"

"Boyd. He's going to do something."

"How do you know?"

"Look at his hands." Scott said, getting up and heading towards Boyd.

"Ace, relax, he's got this." Stiles said, rubbing my back.

I pushed him off. "Don't."

"We need to talk about this." Stiles said, concern filling his eyes.

I immediately felt bad about the way I'd been acting. "Stiles, I'm sorry. I'm just having a bad day."

"Hey, I know that Scott didn't save Derek, but he tried."

"I'm not mad at Scott. I'm mad at you." I snapped, getting angry again. "If you would've just let me help them, maybe I could've saved Derek. Maybe Scott would be healing right now. But we'll never know because you tried to keep me from going."

Stiles looked at me. "Ace, I'm sorry. I just don't want you to die."

I crossed my arms and turned toward the window. Scott must've come back, because I heard, "Crisis averted? Kay, good. Because we got another problem. Ethan keeps checking his phone like every five minutes. It's like he's waiting for something, like a message or a signal of some kind. It's something evil though, I can tell. I have a very perceptive eye for evil, you know that."

"I don't like him sitting with Danny."

"Yeah, me neither. I'm going to see what he's waiting for."

"How?" I asked, turning around.

Stiles smirked a little at me. "Going to ask."

Danny looked at his phone and then back at us. I rolled my eyes as he shook his head. This went on for quite a few messages until Stiles started spamming him with messages. Then I saw Danny turn to Ethan. Ethan whipped around and the seat shook as Stiles and Scott ducked behind the seat.

"That wasn't very subtle." I heard Stiles say. Then his phone went off and I peeked over the seat.

"What does it say?"

He handed me the phone so I could read it.

"Ennis?" Scott said.

"Okay, so does that mean-"

"He's not dead." I said.

Stiles shook his head. "Not yet."

"Jared, I'm warning you. I'm an empathetic vomiter. If you throw up, I'm going to throw up right back on you. And it will be profoundly disgusting."

"Please don't talk about throwing up, it's not good."

"I might throw up on you just to make a point, Jared."

"It's not good. It's not good."

"Now the rest of you, don't think we're going to miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam or a minor tornado warning, Jared. We're going to make this thing. Nothing is going to stop us! Stilinski, put your hand down."

"You know there's like a food exit about half a mile up. I don't know, if we stop and then maybe traffic-"

"We're not going to stop."

"Okay, but if we stop-"

"Stilinski!" Coach yelled, blowing his whistle again. "Seriously. It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!"

"I hate him. Did you call Deaton?"

"I keep getting his voice mail."

"That's it. I'm calling Lydia and Allison."

"How are they going to help? They're back in Beacon Hills."

"Wow, you're really out of it if you haven't noticed them following us this whole time," I said.

"_Hey Stiles! We're just about to walk into a movie, you know, popcorn and that-_"

"I know you're right behind us, put me on speaker."

"_Kay._"

"Okay, look, Scott's still hurt."

"_What do you mean still, he's not healing_?" I heard Allison ask.

"No, he's not healing. I think he's getting worse. The blood's turning like a black color."

"_Well, what's wrong with him_?"

"What's wrong with him, what do I have a PhD in lycanthropy, how am I supposed to know that?"

"_We need to get him off the bus."_

"_And take him where? A hospital?"_

"_If he's dying, yeah."_

"_Stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up, tell Coach to pull over."_

"Yeah, I've been trying."

"_Well try to reason with him."_

"Reason? Have you met this guy?"

"_Just try something."_

Stiles hung up and sighed, before looking at me. "Maybe you can reason with him."

"Fine. But only because Scott could be dying." I said before heading up to Coach. "Coach? Do you think maybe we could stop? It'll take five minutes for a bathroom break and we've been on the bus for like three hours-"

Tweet.

"It is sixty miles to the next rest stop af-"

Tweet.

"Being cooped up for hours in not good-"

Tweet.

"You know, our bladders aren't exactly-"

Tweet.

"Coach-" Tweet. "This is-" Tweet. "Could you please-" Tweet. Tweet. "Sto-" Tweet. Tweet. Tweet.

"Let me talk! I'm-"

Tweet. "Ha, ha, ha."

"Everytime-"

Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

"Get back to your seat. I'm sorry, but we can't stop."

"Fine!" I yelled, heading back. "It's a no go."

"And Jared, keep your eyes on the horizon."

Stiles got a look in his eye and headed over to Jared.

"Oh, no."

"Jared, you suck!" Coach yelled as we all piled off the bus. "Someone grab some towels. Or a mop. Or a new bus."

We helped Scott into the bathroom. He sat on the floor and Allison pulled up his shirt. We all gasped at how bad it had gotten.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Allison asked.

"Sorry," Scott managed to get out, breathing heavily.

"Just give us a second, okay?" Allison said, turning to us. "This shouldn't be happening. I've seen him heal from worse than this."

"Okay, what do we do then? Do we just call an ambulance?"

"What if it's too late, what if they can't help?"

"We've gotta do _something_." Stiles said, clearly worrying for his best friend.

I walked over to Scott and grabbed his hand. Black veins shot up my wrist and I gasped at the pain. "I'll take what pain I can for now. You guys figure something out."

"Why are you doing this?" Scott asked me, slowly gathering a little more strength to talk. "I didn't save him. You should hate me."

"I don't hate you," I said, wiping some sweat off his face. "Scott, you did your best to save him. You always try so hard and that'll always impress me. I could never do half of the things that you do."

"Do you hate Stiles?"

I bit my lip and then shook my head. "No. I don't hate him, I'm just mad that he tried to keep me from helping. If I would've been there the whole time, I might've been able to make a difference."

"He was trying to keep you safe. If something happened to you, he would never forgive himself."

"I know, but he has to figure out that I _can_ handle myself. If something was too much, I wouldn't do it."

"What if you had the chance to switch places with Derek? Would you have done it?"

"Scott-"

"Answer the question."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because, I'm not a leader like you two are. I'm just a Beta, I don't really make too much of a difference in the pack. An Alpha can always make another Beta, but a Beta can't make another Alpha. Sure, they can find a new pack but I'm sure that it would never feel the same."

"Ace, I'm not an Alpha."

"Scott, you've always been an Alpha." I said as the trio returned. I pulled my hand from him, letting myself heal a little before grabbing back on.

"He's going to need another shirt. Where's his bag?" Allison started ordering as she sanitized the needle.

Stiles took one look at the needle before turning a bit green. "Um, I'm going to get it, I hate needles anyway. Uh, do you know what you're doing?"

"My father taught me."

"I mean how fast are you going to-I mean, the bus, the bus could leave."

"Then make sure it doesn't leave."

"Ace and I can stall." Lydia said, pointedly looking at me.

I got up and followed them out of the bathroom. Coach was starting to tell people to get back on the bus. I ran up to him, followed by Lydia.

"Sophia!" He cried, blowing his whistle. "Back on the bus!"

"Coach, you haven't let the bus air out as long as it should. You don't want anyone else to get sick, do you?" I asked, playing his weak points. "I know that if I smell the slightest bit of puke, then it makes me want to puke, and it'll turn into a big cycle of me puking and then Jared puking and it'll keep going until we stop again to clean the bus and then you won't let it air out again and-"

"Okay! I get it!" Coach shouted. "How much longer should I wait?"

"Probably about ten minutes, maybe longer."

Coach nodded and then yelled at the people getting on the bus. Lydia and I headed over toward Isaac and Boyd.

"How did you do that?" She asked, pure awe on her face.

I laughed. "If there's anything Stiles has taught me about Coach, it's that he hates when people talk at him for too long."

"Is Scott alright?" Isaac asked us as we walked up.

"We're not sure," Lydia said. "Allison's stitching him up to see if that works."

Lydia started telling Isaac her theory, but I moved over to Boyd, who seemed to be seething again. "Hey, you alright?"

"I want to tear his head off." He replied, glaring a hole into Ethan's head.

"I'm sure he knows that," I said, physically turning Boyd's head so that he was looking me in the eyes. "But you _cannot_ do anything with this many people around. You hear me?"

Boyd glared down at me, but nodded. "I won't do anything. Not yet."

"Boyd, promise me that you'll wait until there's a plan. I don't want anyone else to get hurt. No one else dies," I pleaded, tears forming in my eyes. I felt everyone's eyes turn to me as I wiped the tears away. "Boyd, please."

"I can't promise that, but I'll do my best to wait."

"I suppose that's all I can ask you to do."

Isaac turned my shoulder. "What exactly is happening to Scott?"

"Hey, hands off," Stiles said, pulling me behind him.

"Scott, Scott, what's going on with Scott?" Isaac asked.

Stiles explained that Scott wasn't healing because he couldn't forgive himself for Derek's death. Isaac must've taken that to mean that Ethan was partially responsible, because he turned and tackled Ethan into the dirt. I tried to go after him and pull him off, but Boyd held me back.

Coach and Danny were desperately trying to get him to stop, but nothing was getting through to him.

"ISAAC!"

Scott's shout caused Isaac to come back to his senses. He immediately stopped punching Ethan, who kind of looked like he'd been enjoying it if I was honest.

After that, Coach got us all back on the bus. He asked me to stay next to Isaac in one of the front seats in case he tried to do anything again.

"Why me Coach?"

"Because. Over the years of having you as a manager for the lacrosse team, you've shown that you can handle even the toughest players. There's just something about you that makes them listen." He said. "Just make sure that you don't lose that, alright? Try and find a job that allows you to use that. It'll make your life a hell of a lot easier."

"You got it," I said, saluting as I sat next to Isaac.

"Do you really think that Derek's dead?"

"No. Derek's alive. I can feel it."


	6. Episode 6

**A/N: Hey guys! Got another chapter for you!**

**Who do you guys want Ace to have a scene with next? Ty? Her mom? Scott's mom? Maybe Peter? Let me know in your review!**

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><p><strong>tdfmellark12: Thanks! I thought that writing heartfelt scenes wasn't really my forte, but I guess I'm doing a pretty nice job so far.<strong>

* * *

><p><em><strong>Due to the mature theme of this episode, read at your own risk.<strong>_

"Coach, we need to stop at a motel or something," I said, rubbing my eyes. "The whole team is tired and if you want us to do well at the meet, we need real beds to sleep on."

"You seemed fine putting my arm to sleep," Isaac grumbled beside me.

Coach sighed, but pulled out his phone and called the next motel. They agreed to let us stay since we were technically on a school trip. When the bus stopped, I got off and stood between Scott and Stiles, looking around.

"I've seen worse," Scott commented, taking in how crappy this motel looked.

I looked at him and then Stiles and I said, "Where have you seen worse?"

Coach blew his whistle again, making me want to strangle him with the cord. "Listen up! The meet's been pushed 'til tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancy's and least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves. You'll be pairing up, choose wisely. Oh, and there has to be a group of three because I'm not legally allowed nor would I want to room with one of you."

Everyone started to grab keys from Coach, who then remembered that we were horny teenagers. "And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants. Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves!"

I headed over to Allison and Lydia. "Guess we're the group of three."

"Lydia?" Allison asked. I looked up to see that she hadn't moved. In fact, she looked scared.

"I don't like this place."

"I don't think the people who own this place like this place. It's just for a night."

"A lot can happen in one night." She said ominously.

I walked over to her and grabbed her arm. "Come on, let's go find our room. You don't have to worry, you have me and Allison to protect you."

"Don't you realize that there's something wrong here?" She asked as we headed toward the motel.

"What do you mean?" Allison asked her, eyebrows knitting together.

"Everyone's acting different than usual. Scott wasn't healing, Ace can't stand to be around Stiles, Isaac being aggressive…"

"It's probably just from the bus ride. I hate being cooped up and Stiles would've crammed me into a seat with him _and_ Scott." I told her as I unlocked the door to our room.

We looked inside, grimacing at what we saw. Lydia sat down on the bed, shaking a little. "It feels wrong here. I don't like it."

"We only have to make it through the night. I promise that everything will go smoothly." I sat next to her and started braiding and unbraiding her hair. "Why don't we try and figure out the darach thing?"

"Like, who do we think did it?" Allison asked, sitting on the other bed across from us.

I nodded. "I'd love to blame Harris, but he's probably dead. Or almost dead. It makes sense that he was a warrior sacrifice. He definitely brought his soldier attitude to the classroom."

"Can we talk about normal things?" Lydia asked. "I don't really need to be thinking of all the bad supernatural things that could happen here."

"Pick a topic." Allison said, giving Lydia a smile.

"Boys."

I groaned and laid back. "It's always boys."

"You seem to love to talk about Stiles. Why not now?"

"I don't know. I'm just…irritated that he didn't let me go fight. He held me back because he wanted to protect me, but I'm part of the pack. I should've been there."

"Have you told him that?" Allison asked me as she moved over to our bed.

I nodded. "He doesn't understand. All he's ever done is stayed back because he doesn't want to get hurt. But he's _good_ at staying back and researching. I get bored and then…well, if I stay back we don't get much research done."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Lydia said, but she still seemed to have fear in her voice. "Spill. What happened last time?"

"I got distracted." I mumbled into a pillow, blush forming on my cheeks.

"By?" Allison teased.

I threw the pillow at her head. "Shut up."

"How big is he?" Lydia propped herself up on her elbows.

I gasped. "I am _not_ telling you that."

"So he's small."

"He is no-I hate you."

"In terms of condom sizes?"

I blushed. "Well, the XXL that he got from Heather's house wasn't that big on him."

"Seriously? The dork is packing?"

"Lydia!" I cried, blushing as red as a tomato. "You know what, I'm going to leave this room. I'll come back when you two decide to act more civilized."

I heard giggles as I closed the door behind me. Then I heard the sound of glass shattering. Hurrying down the steps, I saw Boyd grab a snack out of the machine. Stiles was standing next to it, looking surprised.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked as I walked up.

"Fine," he said as he started grabbing food from the machine. "No cuts, no fuss."

"Boyd did that?"

We headed back up the stairs together. Stiles nodded. "Yeah."

"Don't you think that was weird? I mean, Boyd is normally angry, but-"

"So you're talking to me again now? What made you change your mind?" Stiles blurted out before looking down.

I glared at him. "I can't decide to forgive you? I need a specific reason?"

"Well, it's just that you were cranky the whole way here…"

"Fine." I said, spinning on my heel and heading back to my room. I bumped into Scott, who was walking out, looking a little puzzled. "Scott, are you alright?"

"I'm…I don't know." He said before pushing past me.

I walked in and heard Allison call my name from the bathroom. "What happened?"

"It's Scott. He…I don't know what was up with him, but he came in and tried to pull the curtain away. It looked like he was being controlled or something."

"That's creepy."

"Not as creepy as what I just found out. Apparently this motel has the highest guest suicides in California. They have a number hanging up on the wall." Lydia told us as she came back in and handed Allison a towel.

"I'm calling my dad, maybe he knows something about this place."

* * *

><p>"So how many deaths did you say there were?" Allison asked as she walked back in.<p>

She picked up a towel and started drying her hair as Lydia answered. "198."

"198?" I questioned, tilting my head. "Over forty years?"

"On average, that's 4.95 a year, which is…actually expected. Who commemorates that with a framed number? Who does that? Who?"

"All suicides?" Allison asked as she moved about the room.

Lydia nodded. "Yes. Hanging, throat cutting, pill popping, both barrels of a shotgun in the mouth suicides. I don't know about you, but me, I-did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Allison and I asked at the same time.

Lydia turned and got on top of the bed, heading toward the vent. Allison and I exchanged glances. "Lydia?"

"Oh my god." I heard her whisper, before she clapped a hand over her mouth, stepping back and turning toward us.

"Lyd, what happened?"

"You didn't hear that? Neither of you?"

"No, what happened?"

"The two people in the other room! They just shot each other!" Lydia said before running out the door. She headed to the next room over and pushed the door open. Allison and I followed. "Hello?"

She tried the lightswitch, but it didn't work. She headed inside, which was where Allison drew the line. "Lydia, what are you doing?"

"Hello?!" Lydia called as she ignored us. The room got brighter as Lydia found a work light. I blinked, allowing my eyes to adjust, but all I saw was a bunch of renovation tools.

"It had to be right here. It was a guy and a girl, and they sounded younger but…they were here."

"We believe you," I said with Allison nodding right beside me.

"After everything we've been through, we don't have any reason _not_ to believe you."

Lydia sighed and then started looking around the room. She headed towards the wall, probably hearing something that we couldn't again. Then she spun around on her heel and practically started running back to our room. When Allison and I walked in, she was packing up her belongings.

"You know, there is something seriously wrong with this place. We need to leave."

"But they were suicides, not murders, and it's not like this place is haunted, right?"

"Maybe it is. You know, I bet that couple made their suicide pact in that very room. Maybe that's why they're renovating. Maybe they've been scraping brain matter off the wood paneling."

"Let's go find out," Allison suggested.

* * *

><p>When we walked into the main office, the owner wasn't there. Lydia sighed, but my gaze drifted to the number on the wall. "Hey, Lydia? Didn't you say that was 198 earlier?"<p>

"It was 198. I swear to god it was 198."

"Okay," Allison said. "What does that mean? That there's been three more suicides?"

"Or three more about to happen."

"We need to figure this out. Let's get back to the room." I said, the gears in my head turning.

Lydia looked at me. "We need Stiles."

"Fine. Text him."

* * *

><p>"Last time I saw Scott act like that was during the full moon."<p>

"Yeah, I know. He was definitely a little off with me too. Actually, it was Boyd who was really off. I watched him put his fist through the vending machine." Stiles explained.

"See? It is the motel. Either we need to get out of here right now or someone needs to learn how to do an exorcism ASAP before the werewolves go crazy and kill us," Lydia ranted as she pulled a Bible out of the nightstand.

"Okay, hold on. What if it's not just the motel? The number in the office went up by three, right?"

"You mean like three sacrifices?" Allison asked.

"What if this time it's three werewolves?"

"Scott, Isaac, and Boyd."

I cleared my throat. "Um, guys? There's more than three werewolves here."

"But you haven't been showing symptoms," Allison pointed out. "And we haven't seen or heard anything from Ethan."

"Maybe we were meant to come here," Stiles said, instinctively reaching for me while he thought. I pulled away and crossed the room to Lydia, who started freaking out again.

"Exactly! Can we get the hell out of here now? Please?"

"Hang on, let me see this," Stiles said, taking the Bible from Lydia's hands. He opened it and unfolded a paper.

"What is that?" Allison asked as we all leaned in to see.

"28 year old man hangs himself at the infamous Glen Capri," Stiles read, pulling the article out and placing it on the bed. Then he shook the Bible and more papers fell out. We all started looking through them.

"Look at these two. They both rented room 217. These are probably all the suicides that happened in this room."

"If every room has a Bible-"

"-there could be articles in all the rooms."

"That's a beautiful thing. Most places leave a mint under the pillow. This one leaves a record of all the horrible deaths that occurred."

"I wonder if the room next door has the one about the couple."

Stiles ran out of the room and started trying to get into the room next door. The door wouldn't budge. Lydia shook her head. "That wasn't locked before."

"It doesn't matter, we need to get Scott, Isaac, and Boyd out of here."

Stiles headed to go get Scott when we all heard a noise coming from inside the room. Everyone froze.

"I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?"

"It sounds like someone turned the hand saw on."

"Hand saw?" Stiles asked.

Heart hammering, I kicked the door as hard as I could. It broke open and we saw Ethan looking out of it, moving the hand saw toward himself.

"No, Ethan, don't!" Stiles called out, running toward him. I was right on his heels, and we struggled to get the saw out of his grip. He finally dropped it as Lydia unplugged it. Stiles tripped and nearly landed on it, but I managed to grab the back of his shirt.

Then Ethan pulled out the claws and tried to scratch himself to death. Allison and Stiles grabbed his arms, trying to pry them from his skin, and accidentally pushed him forward. Ethan fell onto the heat lamp and cried out, but it seemed that the fog had left his eyes.

"What just happened?" He asked, looking at all of us. When no one answered, he ran out of the room.

Stiles ran out after him. "Ethan!"

* * *

><p>"Didn't you hear what I just said? I don't know how I got there, or what I was doing." Ethan told us as he headed back to his room.<p>

"Okay, you could be a little bit more helpful, you know. We did just save your life."

"And you probably shouldn't have."

Lydia huffed. "What now?"

"I'll find Scott. You guys grab Isaac and Boyd. The best thing we can do is get them out of this place." Allison said, heading to Scott and Stiles' room.

I headed up after her. "I'll check their room to see if they're still there."

When I opened the door to their room, a dizzying feeling came over me. Everything turned into a bit of a haze, and I fell to the floor, clutching my head.

_You're not a faerie anymore. How do you think that you can keep up with a pack of werewolves if you're the new Beta? What makes you think that you're special? Because you're strong? Because you have good hearing? Maybe it's because you're a Hale. All the Hales are special. But you're not really a Hale. You didn't even try to save your brother, did you? It would've been easy to get past Stiles, the scrawny thing that he is. You didn't _want_ to help. All you ever want to do is make out with your boyfriend._

"That's not true!"

_You _know_ it's true. You don't deserve to live. You should've taken your brother's place._

"I should take my brother's place." I repeated, walking out of their room and bumping into Scott. We both headed toward the bus. He grabbed a flare and I grabbed a tank of gasoline. I drenched the both of us in the liquid and then Scott lit the flare.

"Scott? Scott?" Allison said as she came into view with Lydia and Stiles.

"There's no hope."

"What do you mean? There's always hope."

"Not for me. Not for Ace. Not for Derek."

"Derek wasn't your fault. Derek wasn't either of your faults."

"Yes it was," I said, tears starting to fall. "I could've easily shoved Stiles out of the way and gotten there in time to save him."

"Every time we try to fight back it just gets worse. People keep getting hurt. People keep getting killed."

"Scott, Ace, listen to me, okay? This isn't you. This is someone inside your head telling you to do this. Okay?"

"What if it isn't?" Scott asked.

"What if it is just us?" I continued.

"What if us doing this is the best thing we can do for everyone else? It all started that night. The night I got bitten. Do you remember the way it was before that? You, me, and Ace?"

I picked up where Scott left off. "We were nothing. None of us were popular. Or good at lacrosse. We weren't important. We were no one. Maybe we need to be no one again. No one at all."

Scott held out the flare, ready to light the gasoline, but Stiles stepped forward. "Just listen to me. You're not no one. You're someone. Scott, you're my best friend. Ace, you're my soul mate. And I need you. I need you both. You're my family. Alright? So, if you're going to do this, then you're just going to have to take me with you."

Stiles grabbed the flare and pulled it out of Scott's grasp, tossing it away. Tears streamed down my face as I looked into Stiles face, seeing all the pain that was there.

"NO!"

I was tackled out of the way as the flare light up the gasoline. However, the fire was too quick and I got burned, but the heat snapped me out of my haze.

Stiles helped me up off the ground and I fell into his arms, sobbing. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, it wasn't you," he said, tilting my face toward his. "I'm sorry that I kept you from helping. I promise that if there's another fight, I'll let you help. Maybe you're the deciding variable."

"You're using stats right now?"

"Shut up," he said, pressing his lips against mine. My eyes fluttered closed and I grabbed fistfuls of his sweatshirt, pulling him as close to me as I could. I felt his tongue tracing my lower lip and opened up my mouth, giving him access.

"Ahem."

I pulled back, mock-glaring at Lydia. "Excuse me, you're not allowed to call us out on this. I never called out _you_."

"Well, we're glad to see that you two are back to being perfect, but can we find somewhere to sleep?"

I sighed, but my eyes focused behind Lydia. "How about the bus?"

* * *

><p>"I don't wanna know. I don't wanna know. But in case you missed the announcement, the meet's cancelled. So we're heading home. Pack it in, pack it in!"<p>

I stretched, giggling as Stiles grazed his fingers under my shirt, but stopping when Ethan sat next to Scott.

"I don't know what happened last night, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life."

"Actually, that would be us," Stiles said, leaning forward. "We saved your life. Not that it matters that much. Minor details."

"So I'm going to give you something. We're pretty sure Derek's still alive. But he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen. Either he joins our pack-"

"-and he kills his own-"

"Or Kali goes after him and we kill him. That's the way it works."

"You know, your little code of ethics there is slightly barbaric. Just FYI." Stiles told Ethan as he headed to sit with Danny.

I elbowed Stiles. "Yes, make the strong Alpha werewolf mad at you, great idea."

Lydia sat in the seat across from Scott with Coach's whistle. She blew into it, covering the hole so it wouldn't make noise, and then removed her hand, showing us that dust had collected. "Wolfsbane."

"So every time Coach blew the whistle on the bus, Scott, Ace, Isaac, Boyd-"

"And Ethan."

"We all inhaled it," Scott concluded.

Allison leaned forward from the seat across from us. "You were all poisoned by it."

"So that's how the Darach got in their heads. That's how he did it," Stiles said, before grabbing the whistle from Lydia and throwing it out the window.

"Stilinski!"


	7. Episode 7

**A/N: Sorry that this took so long! I had finals and everything, but now it's winter break. Also, this chapter is kind of crappy...sorry about that as well.**

**As always, I look forward to your reviews, so please, please review! If anything, tell me what I'm doing wrong!**

"Two missing-"

"Hang on. They were both in the car?" Sheriff asked, not fully understanding.

"No, dad, they're trying to tell you that it was two separate kidnappings, okay? Two doctors, both gone."

"So whose car is this?"

"Dr. Hilliard's," Mrs. McCall told him. "The on call doctor. The ER attending is the one that never made it in."

"Let me just focus on getting your story first, alright?"

"Yeah."

"Will you give us a second?" Sheriff asked me, Stiles, and Scott.

We nodded and headed just out of earshot. Scott looked at me and Stiles. "These are definitely sacrifices, right?"

"Yeah, it's one Deaton mentioned. Healers."

"What about Danny? He threw up mistletoe. It's not a coincidence. And if he hadn't been with Ethan-"

"-he probably would've died." I finished, tilting my head a bit. "But Danny's not a healer. Why would he be a target? Stiles?"

Stiles was looking at his dad, who was on the phone. "Can you hear that?"

"They found a body."

"Good morning. As you all know, Mr. Harris is still missing-I mean, sick. Anyway, uh, I'm filling in. While we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place. Okay, so, let's get started, shall we?"

"My dad said that the guy from the ER wasn't strangled, but he did die from asphyxiation, they just don't know how."

"Do you think the on call doctor could still be alive?"

"I don't know, but there's so many more doctors in that hospital. Any of them could be the next target. We can't protect that many people," I whispered while looking down at my book. Our teacher had glanced toward us and I wanted to make sure that we wouldn't get separated.

Just then Scott's phone buzzed. He picked up. "Hey, Doc, sorry, I'm in class right now, can I call you back later?"

"_Unfortunately no. I honestly thought I would never have to burden you like this. But, I'm afraid at the moment, you're my only hope. I'm going to be taken. I need you to find me._"

I looked up to see Scott freaking out. "Hey, you only have to make it through this class."

Scott nodded, but wasn't really able to focus for the remainder of the class. Mrs. Blake continued to give him funny looks throughout the class, but didn't say anything to him. I brushed it off as her thinking he was just weird, as a lot of our classmates thought that.

When the bell rang, Scott darted out of the room. Stiles turned to me, but I had already pulled his phone out of his pocket and had started dialing his dad. "Let's go."

We hopped into his Jeep and got to the animal clinic as fast as we could. By the time we got there, Sheriff Stilinski was already there and it looked like he'd already talked to Scott. Scott caught both of our eyes and pulled us into the back room.

"We have to tell him."

"You mean like tell him tell him? Or tell him something else that isn't what I think you want to tell him," Stiles asked.

"You know what I mean."

"Remember how your mom reacted? She didn't look you in the eye for like a week."

"She got over it. And it actually made us closer."

I nodded. "My mom knew the whole time and she never treated me like I was different."

"Wait, what?" Scott asked.

Stiles shook his head. "Come on dude, he's completely overwhelmed as it is."

"He's overwhelmed because he has no clue what's happening. He's got people dying in his town, the town that he's supposed to protect. And it's not his fault that he doesn't know what's happening. He's going to find out sooner or later."

"Yeah, but is now really the right time?"

"What if not telling him now gets someone else killed?"

"What if telling him gets him killed, huh? I mean, okay, look, I get that Deaton's been like a father to you, I get that. Scott, this is my actual father. I can't…I can't lose both of my parents, alright? Not both of them."

"Stiles, we'll find the right time to tell him." I told him, sliding my hand into his and weaving our fingers together. "Scott and I can help you."

Stiles nodded and we left the back room, seeing Sheriff talking to Mrs. Morell **(A/N: I think this is the right person)**. "Please, whatever you need, however you can help find my brother."

Stiles and I exchanged glances. I mouthed "brother?"

"Excuse us a minute." Sheriff said, walking away.

Mrs. Morell walked over. "Listen closely. No Sheriff, Deputy, or Detective is going to be able to find him."

"You don't have to ask us for help."

"Actually, I'm trying to help you. Because if you're going to find my brother, then you're going to have to use the one person who might actually have an ability to seek out the supernatural."

Scott and I looked at each other, confused, until we heard Stiles sigh. "Lydia."

!

"Alright, we'll go find Lydia," Stiles said as we headed back to the school.

Scott nodded and I focused, trying to smell her out. When that didn't work very well I focused my hearing instead. "Got her."

I started walking, Stiles following me helplessly, not sure where we were even going. When we finally found Lydia, she was arguing with Cora.

"Let me go!" She said, trying to tug her arm out of Cora's grip. "I said-"

"Let her go," Stiles said behind me.

Cora and Lydia looked up, Cora dropping Lydia's arm. I shook my head. "What are you even doing here?"

"Trying to help. I found her with Aiden."

"Is that why the fire alarm is going off?" Stiles asked.

Cora nodded. "Where have _you_ been?"

"Trying to rescue another victim. Then we got a tip that we should try Lydia."

"What?"

Not too much later, we were in the science classroom. Stiles brought over a board, and the name on the box had the three of us giving him a look. "Really? A Ouija board?"

"It's also called a spirit board, and it's worth a shot."

"Shot in the dark."

"Would you just try? Please? Okay? Let's not forget who this is for. Scott's boss. The guy who has saved our collective asses on more than one occasion."

"Do we all do this?" Cora asked, trying to get everyone's focus back.

"Yeah," Stiles said, and we all put our fingers on the marker. "You guys ready?"

"Yes."

"Where is Doctor Deaton?"

There was silence for a few seconds before Stiles looked at Lydia. "Well, are you going to answer it?"

"Oh, I don't know the answer. I thought we were asking some sort of spirit."

Cora looked at Lydia. "Do you know any spirits?"

Lydia gave Cora a look as I rolled my eyes. "Do _you_? Let's be real here."

"Okay, we're trying something else," Stiles said, pulling something out of his backpack. "These are Deaton's keys for the clinic. Close your eyes, I'm going to put them in your hand, and then we're just going to try and see if you can feel out for his location. It's called psychometry."

"I'm not a psychic."

"You're SOMETHING, okay? Just-Lydia, put out your hand." Stiles said. She did as she was told, and when the keys touched her hand she jumped a little. "What?"

"They're cold."

Stiles looked like he was going to bust a vein. I grabbed his hand and laced our fingers together, getting him to calm down a little. "Lydia, can you please concentrate? We're trying to save some lives, and it would be helpful if you'd cooperate."

She sighed, but closed her eyes again, tightening her grip on the keys.

"Lydia, what is it, what do you see?" Stiles asked, moving to slip his arms around me.

"Nothing."

Stiles and Cora sighed, but I wasn't ready to give up just yet. "Stiles, come on. You had something else, right?"

Nodding, he grabbed a pencil from his backpack. "Automatic writing."

"Automatic writing?" She asked. Stiles nodded and she grabbed the pencil. Instead of writing, she started drawing. A picture of a tree.

"Lydia, what are you doing? What the hell is that?"

"A tree."

"A tr-Lydia, you're supposed to be righting words, in sentences. Something like a location, something that would tell us where he is."

"Well maybe you should've said that." Lydia defended herself.

"Isn't she supposed to be some kind of genius?" Cora asked, clearly done with this.

"Genius, yes. Psychic, no. Honestly, I don't even know why you're bothering with me anyway. I mean especially since it's obvious you should be talking to Danny."

"What?" I asked, confusion flooding my features. "Why Danny?"

"Because," Scott said as he walked in, "last night he was a target. It wasn't a sacrifice."

"But isn't Danny still in the hospital?" Cora asked Scott as we left the science classroom.

"Yes, and that's where we're going right now."

Scott shook his head. "I'll meet you there."

!

Stiles and I were able to sneak into Danny's room with Cora and Lydia as a distraction. "Danny, are you awake?"

When there was no response, Stiles, slapped Danny lightly a few times until he took in a deep breath. We jumped back, but Danny didn't do anything. Stiles nudged me and pointed at his backpack. I carefully started to unzip it and looked through, when Danny finally spoke.

"What are you doing?"

I continued looking through his stuff while Stiles answered. "We're not doing anything, Danny. This is just a dream that you're having."

"Why is Ace going through my stuff?"

"Only in the dream. Remember? Dream. Dreaming."

"Why would I dream about her going through my stuff while you watch?"

"I don't know that Danny. It's your dream. Take responsibility for it. Shut up and go back to sleep."

"Hey, Stiles, what about this?" I asked, pulling out a research proposal that had been shut down by Harris.

"Danny boy might have actually found something." Stiles said, getting out his phone and calling Scott as we headed outside.

"_Deaton's got to be at one of the six locations, but they're all over town. I don't know how we can get to all of them fast enough_."

"We might not have to, Danny was working on a research project for his physics class and I think it might actually mean something."

"_What project_?"

"Something on currents."

"_Did you say currents_?"

"Yeah."

!

"Okay, so what does this kid's homework have to do with finding Deaton?" Cora asked as we huddled around Danny's project.

"Because it's not just homework, okay? It's a project on geomagnetic fields. They flow through the Earth, they can even be affected by lunar phases. Now look at this. This is a note from Harris on Danny's proposal." Stiles explained, showing me the note.

"I strongly advise you to choose another subject. The idea's here, while innovative and thoughtful, border on pseudoscience. Not suitable for class." I read aloud.

"Harris wasn't just a sacrifice, he knew something."

"Yeah, and check this out. Allison's dad wasn't the only one with some kind of map. Danny had one too." Stiles told us as he spread the map out on the table. "Danny marked all the telluric currents. The thing about Beacon Hills is that it actually is a beacon. You wouldn't believe how much energy flowing through the Earth is around this town."

"Guys, look, they match," Scott said, pointing to the two maps. "There's two places, right? Where they're kidnapped, and then where their body is found."

"That's right on a telluric current." Lydia pointed out.

"So maybe where he was sacrificed is somewhere in-between."

"Let me see that," Scott said, taking the pen from Scott. "You said there's six more bodies to be found. Deaton's one of them. It's gotta be somewhere in-between, right?"

"Stop," Cora, said, putting her hand over Stiles'. "He's in the vault. He's in the same vault."

Stiles and I started gathering up the maps and putting them away. Scott headed for the door, and then I heard Lydia tell him to stop.

"Lydia, we don't have time."

"It's Boyd," Cora said, looking at her phone. "The plan didn't work. They cut the power."

"It's just like he said," Scott whispered. "Go. I can save Deaton myself."

"Scott, what about us?" Stiles said, gesturing.

"Take us to Derek's," I said, tugging on his hand.

We headed out to the Jeep and then Stiles sped down the road, hoping to get there fast enough. I sent a text to the Sheriff, letting him know where Deaton was. I didn't doubt that Scott could get there, but there was no way that he wouldn't run into some sort of problem. We weren't that lucky.

Once we got to Derek's, we headed to the electrical panel.

"What do we do?" Stiles asked.

"Pull all of them."

The three of us girls started tugging on all the levers. Frustrated, I ran off, up to Derek's loft. I heard everyone calling after me, but I couldn't just sit and play with an electrical panel. I ran into Isaac in the doorway, holding onto Ms. Blake. His eyes widened when he saw me and he tried to free himself to grab me, but it was too late.

"Derek?"

He looked up and I saw tears running down his face. My heart broke. I ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "It's not your fault. Kali made you do it."

"How do you know that?"

I looked up at him, hearing Stiles, Lydia, and Cora appearing. "You'd never kill one of your own. You're too good to do that."

Cora ran up to us and dropped next to Boyd, crying. Stiles put a hand on Derek's shoulder and helped me up, wrapping an arm around my waist. I hugged him tightly, tears streaming down my face.

"It's not his fault."


	8. Episode 8

**A/N: Sorry for a really short chapter, but this episode didn't really give Ace much room to grow. A lot of her interaction is thoughts, so again, I apologize. Also, ****I just want to wish everyone a happy holiday, no matter what you celebrate.**

**My Christmas wish is to get a few more reviews on this story, so if you could review and tell me what you think of it so far, I'd love you forever (plus I'll give you a shout out in the next chapter!).**

"They were there for two days. Waiting, hiding. That's what we're taught to do when the hunters find us. Hide and heal."

"Okay, so is two days standard then, or are we thinking that Derek's on some extended getaway?" Stiles asked Cora.

"Why do you care?"

"Why do I care? Let's see, because over the last few weeks my best friend and girlfriend have tried to kill themselves, his boss nearly got ritually sacrificed, a girl that I've known since I was three _was_ ritually sacrificed, Boyd was killed by Alphas…you want me to keep going? Cause I can, alright. For like an _hour_."

"You think Derek can do anything about that?"

"Well, since he's the one everyone seems to be after, it's more like he should do something about it, yeah."

"I don't know. There's something different about him now. He wasn't like this when I knew him."

I got up from the couch and stood next to Stiles. "Derek's grown a lot. He has feelings now-not that he shows them to everyone, but I've seen it. He has friends, and a sister that he never knew about. When was the last time _you_ knew him?"

Stiles touched my arm gently, silently telling me to back off. I couldn't help it, Cora and I just didn't seem to get along. Yeah, we were related, but I didn't know her as well as I knew Derek. Not that I knew Derek that well either, but Cora was brand new. I still trusted her over Peter though.

Sighing, I uncrossed my arms and felt Stiles wrap his arms around my waist. "I mean, what was he like when you knew him?"

I heard footsteps and looked up to see Peter coming down the stairs. "A lot like Scott, actually. A lot like most teenagers. Unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic, tolerable, really, only to other teenagers."

"What happened, what changed him?" Stiles asked, moving more to my side, but taking my hand in his.

"Well, the same thing that changes a lot of young men. A girl."

"You're telling me some girl broke his little heart? That's why Derek is the way he is?" Stiles asked, sounding extremely skeptical.

I looked at him. "Wouldn't you be like that if I broke up with you?"

"No," Stiles said, shaking his head. "I'd spend every second of the rest of my life trying to get you back. Besides, you'd never do that…would you?"

He looked so scared at the thought of a breakup that I couldn't even tease him. Instead, I gave him a kiss and shook my head. "No. Never."

"Enough," Peter said, looking a bit disgusted. "Do you remember Derek before he was an Alpha? He had blue eyes. Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?"

"I always thought it was a genetic thing."

"If you want to know what changed Derek, you need to know what changed his eyes." Peter told us, launching into story mode.

He told us all about how Derek and Paige first met. Derek had been an annoying little shit back then, irritating her to get her attention. Once he finally talked to her, it seemed that she was a good match for him.

"Okay, so if Derek was a sophomore back then, how old was he?" Stiles asked, interrupting our story. "How old were you? How old are you now?"

"Not as young as we could have been but not as old as you might think." Peter answered cryptically, causing Stiles and I to exchange confused glances.

"Okay, that was frustratingly vague," Stiles commented, turning to Cora. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

Damn. Cora was my older sister. I always thought that I'd been born before her, but apparently I'd been wrong.

"See, that's an answer. That's how we answer people."

Then Cora spoke up again. "Well, seventeen in how you'd measure in years."

"Alright, I'm just going to drop it. What happened to Derek and the cello girl?"

"What do you think happened? They're teenagers. One minute it's 'I hate you, don't talk to me' the next it's frantic groping in any dark corner they can manage to find themselves alone in for five minutes. Their favorite dark corner was an abandoned distillery outside of Beacon Hills."

"Okay, it's kind of creepy how you know all this," I said, causing him to stop describing everything. "How _do_ you know all this? Didn't you say they were alone?"

"Back then I wasn't just Derek's uncle. I was his best friend. His closest confidante, that's how I know."

Peter told us about spying on them through a hole in the wall. After the couple left, a group of werewolves walked up, forcing him to hide. Two packs and another Alpha, talking about how a hunter had killed one of them. That's when Talia-my mother-showed up to help stop the fighting. One of the Alphas carved a symbol into the wall-a symbol that meant revenge.

Peter drew it on the window. "Our mark for vendetta."

"Man, you guys really take that revenge thing to a whole new level." Stiles said, making me roll my eyes at him.

Cora shook her head. "It's not just revenge. Losing a member of your pack isn't like losing family. It's like you lose a limb."

"They wouldn't even let him see the body."

"I don't get it," Cora said to Peter. "What does this have to do with Derek?"

"Everything. It's never just a single moment, it's a confluence of events. Personally, I looked at Ennis' circumstances, I saw profound loss. Derek saw something different, he saw an opportunity."

"Opportunity to do what?" Stiles asked.

"To always be with her. The thing was, he had this constant fear. He was obsessing over it. Thinking about it all night, all day, always on his mind. He didn't want her to find out about his secret, so he decided that the easiest way to stay together was to turn her. I kept telling him not to do it. Every day the more I thought about it, the more convinced he became. You know teenagers. But he only blames me. He's probably convinced himself the whole thing was my idea." Peter explained.

Peter then told us that Derek had gotten this crazy idea to get an Alpha of one of the other packs to bite her. Derek knew that his mother would never do it and that was the only way. Peter then explained just how important the druids are to werewolf packs. The druids were the ones who changed the wolf back to human in the old legends. An emissary was vital to each pack.

"They keep us…connected to our humanity. But they're a secret even in the packs, sometimes only the Alpha knows who the emissary is. Derek and I had no idea about Deaton." Cora told me and Stiles.

Peter interjected, "Or his sister, Morell."

"She's an emissary too?" We asked in unison.

"For the Alpha pack."

"Our guidance counselor? Why the hell don't you people tell me any of this stuff, huh? I shared some really intimate details with her." Stiles ranted, freaking out.

I gave him a look. "What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

Stiles blushed then and couldn't get his words out. "I-I-I…um, it wasn't-nothing…"

"Did she give you good advice?" Cora asked.

Stiles shot her a grateful look before answering her. "Actually, yeah."

"That's what they do. That's what Deaton used to do for Talia."

Peter continued his tale, telling us how Derek had asked Ennis to bite Paige. He'd agreed.

"Ennis? Why would he choose him?" Cora and I asked together.

"Why not? Ennis needed a new member for his pack, Paige was young and strong. Doing a favor for Derek meant Ennis would be in good with Talia. Back then, everyone wanted to be in good with her."

"He doesn't remember it was Ennis, does he?" Stiles asked, fingers intertwining with mine.

"If he does he keeps it to himself."

"So then what happened? Did he turn her?" I asked, needing to know how this ended. Derek had changed from this annoying teenager that I was hearing about and I felt that if I knew why then maybe I'd understand why he was so full of anger.

"Almost. He came at Ennis. A fifteen-year-old boy against a giant. There was no reason for them to fight. She'd already been bitten."

Peter paused, so Cora asked the question on all our minds. "So did she turn?"

"She should have. Most of the time the bite takes. Most of the time."

"When you offered it to me, you said if it doesn't kill you." Stiles said. The memory of that night made me grip his had a little tighter, and I felt him squeeze back.

"Yep. He asked me what was happening to her. He knew the answer. It didn't matter that she was young and strong. Some people just aren't made for this. She fought. She struggled, desperately, trying to survive. In the end, she couldn't take it and asked Derek to make the pain stop. I remembered taking her body from his arms. Into the woods to a place where I knew it would be found. Another in a long line of Beacon Hills' animal attacks."

My eyes were full of tears at Derek's loss. It was no wonder that he acted like he did. After Paige must've been Kate and we all know how well that went for him.

"What about Derek?" Cora asked, the tears shining in her eyes as well.

"Taking an innocent life takes something from you as well. A bit of your soul, darkening it. Dimming a once brilliant, golden yellow to a cold, steel blue. Like mine." Peter said, glancing up at me. His eyes were the same color that mine were.

Stiles turned to me, and Cora did because everyone else in the room was looking at me. "Ace?"

"The janitor," I said remembering clearly. "When Peter trapped us in the school."

"I thought Peter killed him," Stiles said, concern flowing through his voice.

I shook my head, tears beginning to spill. "His last wish was to end the suffering. I didn't think anything of it, I just granted it."

Peter left us alone then, and Stiles and I exchanged glances. Cora looked at Stiles. "What? What's this look on your face?"

"What look?"

"The kind of look that makes me want to punch you."

"Oh my god, you are so Derek's sister. Forgot."

"What is with the look?"

"I just don't believe him," Stiles said, pulling me into his arms and turning us to face Cora. "Alright, in Ms. Blake's class, we're reading Heart of Darkness. And it's in first person, right? Narrated by Marlo. The thing is that he's an unreliable narrator. You know the details of it have changed, just because of his perspective."

"Well, then we heard the story from Peter's perspective."

"If it's Peter, then there's no way we got the whole story," I told her.

"So, what, are you just going to ask Derek about the girl he fell in love with and then killed?" Cora asked, looking at the two of us.

"If I have to, yeah."


	9. Episode 9

**A/N: Yay! I've gotten past my writer's block, which means the chapter's are now longer again! Oh, and I had a question-should I post a series of one-shots? I've been thinking about it, but I want to make sure you guys would read them first...**

**Please remember to review! It makes me smile when I see reviews on my story!**

* * *

><p><strong>LastGoodbyeStolenHeart: Ace will (hopefully) be growing a lot more soon! Btw, I love your name! It's like poetry!<strong>

* * *

><p>"Where is she?" Stiles asked Scott as we pulled up in his Jeep. Allison had texted us saying that we needed to meet her and Lydia at the school now.<p>

"Over here!"

I turned to see Allison and Lydia walking up to us. Stiles grabbed my hand as we headed over to them. "Lydia?"

"It's the same thing. Same thing as at the pool. I got into the car, heading somewhere totally different, and ended up here. And you told me to call you if there was a dead body."

"You found a dead body?" Stiles and I asked in unison.

"Not yet."

"Not yet? What do you mean not yet? Lydia, you're supposed to call us after you find the dead body."

"Oh no. I'm not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on."

I took in a deep breath, and the smell of blood filled my nostrils. I looked at Scott, who was looking the other way. I shrieked as I took in what I was seeing. There was a body draped over the school's sign. Once I realized who it was, I looked over to Stiles, who looked upset.

"Tara."

* * *

><p>The next day at school, I found Stiles trying to eavesdrop on his dad. As soon as I walked up, Sheriff's eyes flickered to the both of us. I tried to run off a different way, but he called me back to him.<p>

"I know what you two are thinking. You have all these ideas about patterns and people dying in threes."

"Dad, murdered," Stiles pointed out.

I cleared my throat. "Um, they were sacrificed, actually."

"I've got half the state, including the FBI, coming in on this. They're not getting away with killing one of our own."

"Dad, they killed Tara. You know, how many times has she helped me with my math homework when I had to wait at the station for you?"

Sheriff sighed. "Just, uh, get to class, okay?"

Stiles and I nodded, heading off to class. I bit my lip before turning to him. "Stiles-"

"No."

"But you have to tell him!" I pleaded, grabbing his hands. "He's never going to be able to figure this out if he doesn't know everything!"

"It's not the right time."

"What if-" I started, but then I shook my head.

"What? What if he gets sacrificed?" Stiles asked. I nodded. "I won't let that happen. If Scott can make sure his mom doesn't get taken, then I can keep my dad safe."

"You're not alone," I said, pulling him closer to me. "I'll help you in any way you need me to."

Stiles nodded and I gave him a short kiss. "Now let's go."

We hurried off to English, slipping into our seats just before the tardy bell rang. Ms. Blake raised an eyebrow at us, but began her lecture.

"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes. All tools the writer uses to tell their story. Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents." Ms. Blake commented, stopping at Lydia's desk.

"You and every guy I've ever dated," Lydia said with a smirk.

Ms. Blake didn't really know how to respond. "Well, um, that was an idiom, by the way. Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They are phrases that only make sense if you know key words. The saying 'jump the gun' is only meaningful if you know about the starting gun to a race. Or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board.'"

"Chess," I heard from behind me.

"That's right, Stiles. Do you play?"

"No, my father does."

Ms. Blake gave him a smile before continuing. Scott leaned over his desk to us. "I think we can get to Ethan. I'm pretty sure I can make him talk."

"Why?" I asked, trying not to turn around completely so that Ms. Blake didn't give me a detention.

"The druids are emissaries, right? So what if the darach was an emissary to the Alphas?"

"Okay, first of all, I cannot believe we've gotten to the point where saying like 'what if the darach was an emissary to the Alphas' actually makes sense to me. And second of all, we're going to have a huge problem getting to Ethan."

"What's that?"

"Aiden. Haven't you noticed that they've been attached at the hip since he got back to school? It'll be hard to separate them." Stiles explained.

I rolled my eyes. "Hard, but not impossible."

We all turned to Lydia. I gave her an apologetic look as she asked, "What now?"

* * *

><p>"Why are you even talking to me?" Ethan asked as the three of us managed to get him alone on the stairs. "I helped kill your friend, how do you know I'm not going to kill another one?"<p>

"Is he looking at me? Are you threatening me?" Stiles asked.

I growled low in my throat, glaring daggers at Ethan. "You won't get a chance to even lay a finger on him."

"I'm an Alpha," Ethan said, "You don't have the strength."

"I've been told I'm strong. And I've also heard that when a werewolf's mate gets attacked, that they get even stronger. Do you want to test your theory?" I asked, trying not to transform.

"Ace," Scott said in a warning voice. Then he turned back to Ethan. "We're talking to you because I know that you didn't want to kill Boyd. And I think that if something like that happened now, you wouldn't do it again."

"You don't know what we owe them. Especially Deaucalion. We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't Alphas."

"What were you?" I asked, still angry, but mostly curious.

"Omegas. In actual wolf packs, Omegas are the scapegoat. The last to eat. The one that has to take the abuse from the rest of the pack."

"So you and your brother were like the bitches of the pack," Stiles said next to me.

Ethan nodded. "Pretty much."

"What happened?" Scott pushed.

"They were killers. I mean, people talk about us as monsters. But they were the ones who gave us the reputation. And our Alpha was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you guys just fight back? Form Voltron wolf, you know, kick everyone's asses."

"We couldn't. We didn't know how to control it back then."

"Deaucalion taught you."

"And then we fought. We took down the whole pack, one by one. And by the time we got to our Alpha, he was begging for his life. We tore him apart. Literally."

"What about your emissary?" Scott asked, trying to get to the information we really wanted. Ethan shook his head. "They're all dead? Kali and Ennis' too?"

"All of them except for Deaucalion's."

"You mean Morell?" Stiles asked.

Ethan didn't answer, instead looked down at his chest and gasped in pain. I didn't like him, but I also felt bad. "Are you hurt?"

"No. Not me. My brother."

I tilted my head, listening for Aiden and Lydia. I knew Scott and Ethan were doing the same, but I was the first to pick up on it, taking off. "They're in the locker room!"

We ran in just as Aiden was about to finish off Cora with a weight. Scott and Ethan grabbed his arms while Stiles and I ran to Cora's side.

"Aiden! You can't do this!"

"She came at me!"

I looked to Cora for an explanation, but she just scowled at me and then Aiden.

"It doesn't matter! Kali gave Derek until the next full moon. You can't touch him, or her."

Aiden glared at Cora, but Ethan gave Scott a nod and ushered his brother out of the room. I took Cora's hand and started taking some pain away, but she ripped it out of my grasp. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not." I said, grabbing her hand again. Black veins snaked up my arm again. "You're hurt worse than you think. I know, I've been in the same boat."

Cora sighed in defeat and let me take away more pain. When I let go, she got up and grabbed some paper towel, dabbing at the cut on her forehead.

"You alright?" Scott asked.

"You don't look okay," Lydia said behind us.

Cora rolled her eyes. "I'll heal."

When she backed away from the counter, she swayed a bit. Stiles and I moved to catch her, but she steadied herself. "I'm fine."

"Do you realize how suicidally crazy that was? What were you thinking going after them?" Stiles asked.

"I did it for Boyd. None of you were doing anything."

"Sometimes it's better to have a long term plan then to attack at your first chance. We're trying." I explained, knowing that since Boyd was a part of her pack she felt the impact much more than I did.

"And you're failing. You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers. Running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed. But all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies." She ranted before stalking off.

"She's definitely a Hale," Stiles mumbled.

I sighed. "I'll make sure she gets home. Stiles?"

* * *

><p>"Philosophers?" Stiles asked Allison. She'd called and told us that her dad had the five types of sacrifices written in a druid symbol on his desk that showed up under black light. How he knew about them was beyond me.<p>

"_And guardians. Which after last night has to mean something like law enforcement, right? Stiles, you have to tell your dad. Tell him whatever you need, but you have to get him to believe. Tell your dad. Warn him._"

"Okay, okay, okay, I know." Stiles said, hanging up his phone.

Cora looked at him. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to tell him the truth," Stiles said, clearly hating that he had to do this, but knowing it was the right choice.

I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We're here to help."

Stiles nodded and we continued the rest of the drive to his house in silence. When he pulled into the driveway, he froze. "What am I going to tell him?"

"Just start at the beginning," I said, pulling his keys out of the ignition so he wouldn't be tempted to leave. "If you need help, I can chime in."

"No, I need to do this myself. But if you could prove it to him?"

I smiled. "Of course."

We headed inside, Cora mumbling something about lovebirds. I rolled my eyes at her, but as soon as I saw the Sheriff I gave him a bright smile. "Sheriff! Could we talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah. Dad, there's something I have to tell you," Stiles said, constantly shifting.

Sheriff's eyes widened and he looked at me. "Are you pregnant?"

"WHAT? NO!" I cried, before regaining my composure. "Sorry, that's just…nowhere near what we have to tell you."

He nodded and we all headed up to Stiles room. Cora looked at me with a smirk on her face, whispering only so I could hear, "_Is there any possibility that you're pregnant?_"

I shook my head slightly and her smirk disappeared. We sat on Stiles bed and watched as he paced around the room, unsure of how to start.

"Okay…yes! Okay. No, uh-"

"Stiles!"

"Dad, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to figure out how to start here."

"Hey, I don't have this kind of time."

"Um," Stiles said, finally starting. "For the last year, you had all these cases that you couldn't figure out, right? All the murders involving Kate Argent, and then Matt killing all the people who had drowned him, and then all these murders right now, it's like, it's like you've been playing a losing game."

"Stiles, the last thing I need right now is a job performance review from my own son."

"I know, um," Stiles said, rubbing his forehead. Then I saw his eyes light up with an idea. "That's just it. The reason that you're losing the game is that you've never been able to see the whole board. I need to show you the whole board."

Stiles began setting up the chess board as fast as he could. His dad sighed and opened his mouth, but I jumped off the bed to help Stiles. "Mr. Stilinski, trust us. Please."

He nodded and sat down. I noticed Stiles was color coding everyone, but he paused when he got to me. Then he marked me in the same color as Scott. I smiled a little when I saw that he'd marked me as the queen.

Then he quickly explained everything to his dad, pointing out the marked pieces as he did so. His dad looked completely lost when he was done.

"Scott, Derek, and Sophia are were-wolves."

"Yes."

"And Kate Argent was a were-wolf."

"Hunter," I corrected, holding up Kate's piece. "Purple is for hunters. Kate, Allison, her father-all of the Argents were hunters."

"Yeah. And my friend Deaton, the veterinarian, is a Kanima."

"No, no, no, no, no. He's a druid. Well, we think."

"So who's the Kanima?"

"Jackson."

"No, Jackson's a were-wolf."

"Jackson was the Kanima first. Then Derek, who is my biological brother, and Peter killed him, he came back to life as a were-wolf, now he's in London." I explained, trying not to confuse him further.

"Who's the Darack?"

"It's Darach."

"We don't know yet," Cora said from her spot on the bed.

"But it was killed by were-wolves?"

"Slashed up and left for dead."

"We think," Cora emphasized.

"Why was Jackson the Kanima?"

"Because sometimes the shape that you take reflects the person you are."

"And what shape would an increasingly confused and angrier by the second father take?"

"Uh, that would be more of an expression. Like the one you're currently wearing."

"Yeah," Sheriff said, getting up.

"Dad, Dad! Would you-I can prove it, okay? They're both were-wolves!"

"Stiles, Stiles! That's enough."

"Dad, can you please just hold on?" Stiles asked, before turning to me and Cora. "You ready? Dad, just watch this. Okay?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Cora fell to the floor. I knelt next to her, trying to find a pulse and see if she was breathing. "Someone call an ambulance!"

* * *

><p>At the hospital, Cora got checked in right away. Stiles and I were waiting in the lobby until they told us what was wrong with her until Stiles got a call from Scott.<p>

"_Stiles, it's not guardians. It's philosophers, as in teachers._"

"That makes sense. Tara, she wasn't always a cop, she used to teach middle school."

"_Then the last one is going to be another teacher._"

"Yeah, but there's dozens of them Scott, and they're all headed home."

"_No. No they're not, they're all going to the recital!_"

"That's irony at its finest," I mumbled, before getting an inkling of an idea. I didn't voice it aloud though, I didn't have enough proof. "Stiles, we have to get to the school as soon as we can."

"What about Cora?" Stiles asked, before we saw his dad again. Stiles ran up to him, with me right on his heels. "Dad, Dad, please. What did you see the night that Scott saved Deaton?"

"Nothing."

"Dad, you saw him healing himself. Right after he tried crossing the mountain ash."

"I don't know what I saw."

"You saw something that you can't explain."

"Stiles, I have seen a lot of things I can't explain in this town. That doesn't make them supernatural, and it doesn't make them real. Besides, if you are so insistent on this, why doesn't Sophia prove it?"

"I can't with this many people around," I said, knowing how much it sounded like an excuse.

"They just found another body. That's real. That's the lead I'm following."

"Dad, another teacher is going to die if you don't start listening to me."

"I AM LISTENING, I HAVE BEEN LISTENING!" Sheriff yelled, causing a lot of people to go quiet around us. I grabbed Stiles hand, not having heard Sheriff yell like that since we were kids.

"You just don't believe." Stiles said. Sheriff struggled, trying to think of something to say, but gave up and headed toward the door. "Mom would've believed me."

I saw Sheriff stop and heard him sigh, but Stiles pulled me off down the hall. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Stiles and I showed up just a little after the concert had started. We slipped in the door and made our way over to Scott, trying not to be too loud. I looked around and saw Allison and Isaac, along with Mr. Argent to our left. I saw the twins sitting in the audience, but I couldn't see Lydia anywhere.<p>

Scott looked at me when he heard my heartbeat pick up. "What? What is it?"

"The sacrifice is philosophers, right?" I asked. The boys nodded. "Lydia's most likely to be our valedictorian. Where is she?"

The boys exchanged glances before they burst out the doors. "Lydia?! Lydia?!"

Scott and I began to look around, using our enhanced vision.

"Anything?" Stiles asked. We both shook our heads. "She's not answering texts. What do we do? Scott?"

I wracked my brain, trying to think of any sort of clue that would lead us to Lydia. "I've got it!"

Just then I heard a high-pitched scream that forced me to my knees. I covered my ears, unable to handle it. I barely heard Stiles calling our names.

When the scream ended, I ran back inside the school and bolted for the stairs. I heard screaming from the auditorium, but I didn't stop. Scott and I burst into the room in time to see Sheriff collapse to the ground, a knife in his chest. Scott roared and attacked Ms. Blake, but she threw him into a wall of chairs. I was still in the doorway, trying to strategize my best attack, when she acted, sliding a desk into me. I was knocked out of the room and the door slammed shut. Stiles was right at my side, having caught up to us.

"No, no, I'm fine. Your dad," I coughed, blood staining the tiles.

Stiles ran to the door and tried to open it. I tried my best to help him, but I wasn't strong enough because I was still healing.

"_There was a girl, years ago. We found her in the woods, her face and body slashed apart. That was you wasn't it?_"

"_Maybe I should've started with philosophers. With knowledge and strategy._"

A gunshot sounded, but I knew that Ms. Blake was too powerful to be killed by just one shot from a regular gun.

I could hear Sheriff yelling in pain as Ms. Blake threw him against the same chairs Scott had fallen into. I couldn't let him be taken. Stiles had already lost his mom, he couldn't lose his dad too. With that thought in mind, I was able to channel my strength and open the door. Ms. Blake didn't look like a human, she had changed into a Darach.

When she saw me, she tried to escape, but I managed to claw her leg before she disappeared out the window. I jumped up on the ledge, about to follow her, but she was gone.

"Dad?"


	10. Episode 10

**A/N: Happy New Year! I figured that to celebrate, you guys could read another chapter! By the way, that series of one-shots should be up within a few days. I'm debating on whether I want to start it with little baby Ace meeting the boys for the first time, or if I should do the summer in-between seasons 2 and 3a, or whatever. If you guys have a preference, let me know!**

**Make sure you review!**

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><p><strong>Guest: Thank you!<strong>

**LastGoodbyeStolenHeart: I'm glad you like what I write! It's nice to have at least one person reading everything I put out.**

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><p>"We have to tell Derek about Ms. Blake," I said, spinning around in the window sill. "I can go alone if you guys want to take care of Lydia."<p>

"I'll take Lydia."

We all looked up to see Aiden in the doorway. Scott opened his mouth to protest, but I nodded. "Thank you."

Aiden was already cutting Lydia out of her restrains. "Go!"

We raced out of the school and hopped into Stiles' Jeep. The ride to Derek's was a silent one, except for the prayers coming out of Stiles' mouth hoping that the police were too busy to pull him over for speeding.

The second we got to Derek's I jumped out of the Jeep and ran up the stairs. "Derek!"

The door opened as soon as I got to his loft. He looked confused, but let me inside, leaving the door open. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"The Darach! It's Ms. Blake."

"Jennifer? No, it can't be."

"Derek, I know you don't want to believe it, but it's true. The three of us saw it with our own eyes," I said, gesturing to Scott and Stiles who'd just shown up. They both nodded behind me, Stiles panting and trying to catch his breath. "She took Stiles' dad. She tried to kill Lydia."

Derek nodded solemnly. "I don't want to believe you, but I don't think that you're lying. I think I saw it myself, but I ignored the signs."

My ears perked up as I heard noise. "That has to be her."

"Hide."

I grabbed Stiles and we hid behind a wall, Scott right on our heels. We'd just concealed ourselves when we heard, "Derek? Derek, where are you?"

"Right here."

"Oh thank god," she said, hugging him. "Something happened at the recital, at the school. I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear any of it from them."

"From who?"

"Scott, Stiles, Sophia. They're going to tell you things. Things you can't believe, you have to trust me, okay? Trust _me_."

"What is it?"

"Promise you'll listen to me."

"Promise."

Ms. Blake kissed him then. I could tell she knew something was up because she backed off and said, "They're already here, aren't they."

Derek looked toward where we were hiding then, which I took as a signal to come out. Stiles grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers together. Ms. Blake glanced at our hands once before turning to Derek. "So, they told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people?"

"We told him you're the one killing people," Scott corrected.

"Oh, that's right. Committing human sacrifices. Cutting their throats. Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour, that way I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense."

"Where's my dad?" Stiles asked, in a tone that made my heart break. I squeezed his hand, letting him know I was there for him. I felt him squeeze back.

Ms. Blake gave him an innocent look. "How should I know? Derek, tell me you don't believe this."

"Who do you think he's going to believe? His own sister and friends? Or a lying whore?" I asked. She turned to me, eyes blazing, but when Derek spoke she softened her face.

"Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?"

"No."

"Ask her why she almost killed Lydia," I growled.

"Lydia Martin? I don't know anything about that!"

"What do you know?" Derek asked.

She turned back to him. "I know that these _children_ for some misguided reason are filling your head with an absurd story. And one that they can't prove by the way."

"What if we can?" Scott asked, holding up a jar.

"What is that?"

"My boss told me it's a poison and a cure. Which means you can use it, but it can also be used against you."

"Mistletoe." Ms. Blake guessed, as Scott threw the powder at her. She gasped and screamed as her true form was revealed. When the powdery smoke cleared, she tried to run. I moved forward to stop her, but Derek grabbed her by the throat. "Derek, wait, wait! You need me!"

"What are you?"

"The only person who can save your sister. Call Peter. Call him!"

I pulled out my phone and dialed the one number I never thought I'd call.

"_Sophia? You're one that I never thought I'd hear from._"

"Cora, how's Cora?" I asked, panic in my voice.

"_Not good. She's in and out of consciousness, she's vomiting up black blood along with one other alarming substance._"

"Mistletoe."

"_How did you know that?_"

"Long story. We'll be there soon," I said, before hanging up.

Derek was starting to choke Ms. Blake. Scott stepped forward. "Derek. Derek, what are you doing?"

"Her life-it's in my hands!" Ms. Blake choked out in gasping breaths.

Derek lifted her off the floor, cutting off her oxygen further.

"Derek, stop! Stop!" Stiles cried, stepping up next to Scott.

"Stilinski. You'll never find him."

I looked at Stiles to see tears starting to fall. I leapt at Derek, knocking him and Ms. Blake to the floor. He growled at me, but I growled right back. "You were going to kill her? We need her to heal Cora and find Stiles' dad!"

"That's right. You need me. All of you."

I glared at her, ready to tear her apart. The only thing stopping me was that she was right. We did need her. However, once Cora and Mr. Stilinski were safe, she was prey.

"Cora, we need to get to Cora," I heard Derek say, snapping me out of my rage.

I nodded and followed Stiles down the stairs. Derek dragged Jennifer to his car, and the rest of us hopped in the Jeep.

"Something feels wrong about this. We proved it to Derek but she still had this look like it didn't matter. You know, like it was all still going according to plan. You saw it, didn't you?"

I nodded, but Scott shook his head. The rest of the ride to the hospital was silent, other than our breathing. Stiles seemed extremely tense, so I grabbed his hand and intertwined our fingers. I knew he could drive perfectly fine with one hand. He gave me a grateful look before he turned back to the road.

At the hospital, I climbed out Scott's side of the Jeep, getting soaked in an instant. I turned around and saw Stiles carrying something. "What's that?"

"You two have claws, I got a bat."

Derek kept a tight hold on Jennifer, leading her to the elevator when I heard Mrs. McCall calling Scott's name. "What are you all doing here? The hospital is evacuating."

"We're here for Cora."

"All of you?" She asked, her gaze moving to Stiles. "Why does Stiles have my bat?"

"Mom, just trust me on this. You need to get out of here. Right now."

"The building is supposed to be clear in thirty minutes. We have to ambulances that are coming back. One's thirty minutes out, the other is twenty. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage."

"Got it." Scott said, before we all headed down the hall.

Ms. Blake looked mad that Derek still had her arm. "You don't have to keep me on a leash Derek, I'm going to help."

"I'll believe it when I see it," I growled, glaring at her.

She gave me a glance. "Maybe I _should've_ used you as a virgin sacrifice. It's not too late."

My face burned at her comment, but I refused to take my glare off her. I felt Stiles behind me, bat at the ready. The doors opened and I pushed past everyone, running down to Cora's room. I gasped when I saw that she wasn't there. "Derek!"

He looked in and saw the black blood on the floor. Scott pointed out the blood on the floor. It lead to a pair of double doors, which Peter slid out of in the next second.

"We got a problem. Big problem."

I heard a roar and looked up to see Megawolf. "Well, Lydia must be fine then."

Derek went full Alpha and took off, starting to fight. He wasn't doing well, so Scott joined in. I saw Cora on the other side of the wolves. "Stiles. Peter. Get Cora."

"What are you-" Stiles said, but his comment was cut off when I roared myself.

Megawolf didn't even look up from fighting with Scott. Remembering that night in the school, I jumped up and climbed into the ceiling, coming down on top of the twins, getting a good scratch in. They grabbed me and Scott, each in one hand, and pressed us against the wall.

"Ethan, Aiden. Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Scott said, pulling at the hand on his throat.

"ALL WE WANT IS HER!" Megawolf cried, before dropping the two of us and racing back toward the elevator. My eyes landed on Ms. Blake's smirking face before the doors closed.

Peter picked up Cora and we ran off toward the basement garage, desperate to get Cora to an ambulance.

"Don't stop, don't stop!" Derek yelled from behind us.

I looked over my shoulder to see Stiles looking at his bat. "Stiles!"

He hid behind the door and hit Megawolf over the head. The bat splintered in his hands. Megawolf growled at him, but he was already scooting around a table to get back to us. I grabbed him and pulled him out the door before the power went out.

"I can't see," Stiles said, fumbling in the dark.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand. "I can. Let's go."

We ran down the hall, being careful not to run into anything. When we caught up to Peter, the light's flickered back on.

"The backup generator works."

Peter laid Cora on a table as Scott and Derek ran in. "Where's the big guy?"

"Close," Derek said, closing the doors.

"What about Ms. Blake?" Stiles asked. Scott shook his head. "What-what does that mean, like she's gone? Scott, are you kidding me?!"

"Quiet!"

"Me be quiet, me? Are you telling me what to do now? When your psychotic, mass murdering girlfriend, the second one you've dated by the way, has got my dad somewhere tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"

"Stiles, they're still out there." I said, trying to get him to calm down a little.

"And they want her, right? Which means now we don't have her either. So my dad, and Cora, are both dead."

"Not yet." Scott told him before moving to Peter.

I grabbed Stiles and turned him towards me. "Stiles, you need to calm down. I know you're freaking out about your dad, but if we're going to fix this we have to work together. Which means you need to shut your mouth and listen, alright?"

He nodded, and for a few seconds everything was fine. Until I smelt the arousal coming off of him. "Really? Now?"

"Sorry," he mumbled, a blush on his face. Everyone in here could smell the same thing I could.

I looked up as the doors opened. Ms. Blake stepped inside. "You can't. Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of Alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So I'll help you, but only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."

Derek and I started at Jennifer, but Stiles held me back and Scott grabbed Derek. "Wait!"

"She was trying to get out."

"I was trying to keep from getting killed, you can't blame me for that."

"If you want to prove that you're one of the good guys, then heal her," Stiles said, pointing to Cora.

"Not until I'm safe."

"I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion. Let's torture her." Peter suggested.

"Peter, I never thought I'd agree with you until now," I growled, glaring at Ms. Blake.

Then there was a shrill noise as the intercom began. I froze when I heard the voice that was speaking. "Um, can I have your attention? Mr. Deaucalion-excuse me, just Deaucalion, suggests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the ER Reception. Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."

Scott looked genuinely terrified as the intercom ended. Ms. Blake rolled her eyes. "He's not going to hurt her."

"Shut up."

"He won't. Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."

"What does she mean?" Derek asked. Stiles and I looked at each other, not sure what the hell Ms. Blake was talking about.

"You're not the only one he wants in his pack," she said. "Deaucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack, he wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of Alphas to his ranks."

"True Alpha," I heard Peter say in disbelief.

"What's that?"

"The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another. One that can rise by the force of his own will. Our little Scott."

"It doesn't matter," Scott said, brushing all of this new information off. "We still need to get her out of here."

"Scott, your mom!" Stiles said, trying to get closer to his best friend.

"My mom said there was one more ambulance coming in twenty minutes and I don't think we've been here that long. If we get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, then we can get out of here."

Peter cleared his throat. "The twins aren't going to just let us walk out."

"I'll distract them."

"I'll help you," Derek said.

"Um, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek." Ms. Blake said.

Derek and Scott turned to Peter. He sighed. "I'll do it, but I prefer to be out there with an advantage."

"You mean like another werewolf?" I asked, crossing my arms.

Stiles spun me to face him. "Ace, you can't."

"Why not? I'm not afraid of them."

"I-" Stiles started, but then swallowed hard. "I can't lose you. What if you don't-"

"I'll come back. I promise," I said, before kissing him fiercely.

Peter coughed, bringing us back into reality. "As much as I'd like another werewolf, I'd like a personal advantage."

"What, like a weapon?"

"Something better than a baseball bat," Peter said.

We all started tearing through the medicines in the room, determined to find something that would disable the twins.

"Hey, wait!" I heard Stiles say, and looked up. He was holding the defibrillator.

I sighed. "Do you know how to use those?"

"No."

"Put them down."

"Epinephrine?" Scott asked, holding up a large needle.

"That's only going to make them stronger," Derek said without even looking up.

Peter stopped rifling through the cabinets. "How strong?"

Without another word, I grabbed the needle from Scott and plunged the liquid into Peter's chest. We stepped out into the hallway to find the twins at the end of it.

"Alright boys. Let's go," Peter said, before they roared.

Scott, Peter, and I roared back before jumping into the fight. Scott and Peter attacked straightaway, but I waited for them to be tossed aside before I jumped in. If we could keep them distracted long enough for the others to get away, then we didn't need to win the fight.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Stiles peek out the door before taking off toward the garage. In that split second of distraction, I was tossed against the wall.

The twins, as Megawolf, let out a laugh. "You think you can beat us? After we kill you, we're going to kill the rest of your friends."

"Stiles," I muttered, before I felt a surge of strength. I swept my legs underneath theirs, causing them to crash to the floor. Growling, I slashed at their chest before they kicked up and knocked me further down the hallway.

I moved to get in another punch, but Scott grabbed my arm and dragged me down the other way. Peter was sitting against the wall. "That shot didn't last very long."

Scott and I helped him up and ran down the hall. I kicked open the door to the first room I saw and we filed in.

"Those twins are really starting to piss me off."

"How the hell are we supposed to get past them?"

"Personally I think if we keep letting them beat the living crap out of us, they'll tire and give up."

"Guys?" I asked, leaning against the wall. They turned to look and me and I moved, revealing the laundry chute. "Would this work?"

I went first, landing in a pile of laundry. I hopped out as quickly as I could, because five seconds later, Peter fell in. And then Scott landed on top of him.

Peter groaned. "You couldn't have waited like, ten seconds?"

Scott looked at his phone then. Peter jumped out, landing next to me. "They didn't get out, did they?"

I looked at Scott, fear in my eyes. He nodded and I ran towards the garage, Peter and Scott right on my heels. If there was any place that Stiles would be, it would be there.

I saw the twins wandering around the parking lot and waited for them to pass before I focused my hearing. I heard two heartbeats coming from the ambulance, although one was fainter than another. Then I heard a thump behind me and turned to find Peter on the ground. Looking over my shoulder to make sure the twins hadn't heard, I helped him up and hurried us to the ambulance.

Stiles jumped when we appeared, but opened the door for us. Peter climbed in, but Scott and I stayed out.

"Where's Derek and Jennifer?" Stiles asked Scott.

"I have to go back for them, and my mom."

"Okay, two problems. Kali has got the keys to this thing and I just saw the twins like thirty seconds ago."

"Stay here," Scott said, before the two of us headed back into the hospital. Before we made it to the staircase, we both heard something fall and hit the floor. It was way too quiet.

Then the twins appeared out of nowhere. Scott pulled me down and they hit the cabinet I'd been standing in front of. They grabbed Scott and threw him into a shelving unit before lifting the two of us up against the wall by our throats.

"Where is she? We're trying not to hurt you."

"Try harder," Scott choked out.

We fell to the floor as someone yelled, "Hey!"

"I'd like to try something," Mrs. McCall said before using the defibrillator. The electricity coursed through the twins, causing them to separate and twitch on the floor. "Sweetheart. Get up."

She helped Scott up and he pulled me up before we ran off, leaving the twins behind us. As we ran, Mrs. McCall began telling us everything Deaucalion said to her. She finished her story as we ran back into the lobby. "He just let me go, saying that I was his gesture of goodwill. It didn't seem like there was a reason."

"He _had_ to have a reason," Scott said, both of us trying to piece it together. "I don't think he does anything without a reason."

"Well if that means I should continue to be profoundly terrified, then don't worry about it, I got that covered."

Scott and I both heard footsteps down the next hallway. He gestured for his mom to stay back before we crept toward the wall. We peeked out and saw Isaac, Allison, and her dad. Mr. Argent nearly shot us, but sighed in relief when he realized it was us and put down his gun.

We quickly explained everything that had happened tonight, from the Sheriff being kidnapped to what Mrs. McCall had just told us about Deaucalion. Then Scott mentioned that Derek and Ms. Blake had been in the elevator when the power went out.

"So they're essentially trapped?"

"Right."

"But there's no way of getting them out without turning the power back on."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. If the power is back on, then they're going to hear the elevator moving, right?"

"And they'll be on Jennifer and Derek as soon as it stops," Scott said. "We can't get in a fight with them."

"You've got us now."

"It's too much to risk," I said, before erupting into a coughing fit. The twins had really done a number on me in this past fight. "They want her dead, and if she dies then Cora and Stiles' dad are basically dead."

"I don't think I know which teacher this is." Mr. Argent said.

"She's nice, she's the one with the brown hair, she's kinda hot," Isaac listed. We all turned and gave him a look before he tried to backpedal. "It's just an observation."

"I've got an idea."

!

Once everyone was distracted and the power was back on, Scott and I headed to the elevator to help Derek and Ms. Blake. When the doors opened, all we saw was Derek, lying on the floor, unconscious.

"Mom," I heard Scott whisper before he took off.

"Scott! No, wait!" Stiles shouted as he ran up to us.

I looked at him, tugging Derek out of the elevator. "Go!"

I pulled as much pain from Derek as I could without it reaching my heart. Once he was conscious, I pulled him up and followed Stiles' scent up to the roof, dragging Derek with me the whole time.

"Stiles!" I yelled when we got there. Derek was better enough to walk on his own at this point, so I let go of him and ran to Stiles instead.

He was standing there, shock written all over his face. "Scott went with him. He went with Deaucalion."

"Stiles, we'll figure this out. We always do."

"Maybe not this time."


	11. Episode 11

**A/N: Got another chapter for you guys. Hopefully you can catch the tiny glimpse of foreshadowing that I threw in there for next season. If not, I'll probably have a flashback to it. Also, I've decided on an actress that I feel looks the most like Ace. Melissa Benoist is the one I've chosen. If you're a huge Gleek, you probably know her as Marley.**

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><p><strong>LastGoodbyeStolenHeart: I might have a few flashback-ish scenes to baby Ace, or maybe have her mom tell Stiles some stories of her as a baby or something. I hope you have a fantastic 2015 as well. Thanks for reviewing!<strong>

**jenn: I wasn't sure if I was going to do Ace justice as a were-faerie either, but it seems to have worked well enough. She is growing alongside the other characters as well, and I'm happy that you noticed it. Thanks for reviewing!**

"Jennifer's gone?" Derek asked as we hurried back down the stairs.

Stiles nodded, growing increasingly jittery. "Yeah, she took Scott's mom. And the police are on their way, so you have to get out of here now!"

"Where's Cora?"

"The Argents have her, now go!" I said, jumping down to the next landing, scaring the hell out of Stiles. "We'll hold off the cops."

Derek nodded and ran out the door. Stiles and I sat on the bench closest to the main entrance. He'd calmed down a lot since the roof, but I could tell that he was still nervous. I laced my fingers through his. "We'll get through this."

"I hope so," Stiles said as the sirens stopped. The FBI started walking in and I gasped as one of them turned toward us. "Just perfect."

He walked over to us. "A Stilinski at the center of this whole mess, what a shocker."

"Hey, leave him alone," I protested.

The agent turned to me. "Ah, Sophia is here too. You two were always partners in crime. Now, can you answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"

"If you can ask the questions without the usual level of stupid," Stiles retorted, turning the attention back to him.

The agent smirked. "Where's your dad, and why has no one been able to contact him?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him in hours."

"Is he drinking again?"

"What do you mean again, he didn't have to stop."

"But he did have to slow down, is he drinking like he used to?"

"Next time we see him, we'll give him a field sobriety test. Make him recite the alphabet backwards, walk in a straight line, make sure he remembers how much hatred we have for you, the usual," I spoke up, mad that he was being such a dick.

"How about you tell me what happened here?"

Stiles sighed. "We don't know what happened here, we were stuck in the elevators the whole time."

"You're not the one who put the name on the doors, are you?"

"What name?" I asked, worried.

The agent led us to the elevator. When I saw the name on the door, I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands.

It read: ARGENT.

!

"The role is guardian, Allison, you know more than anyone that isn't a role that I've lived up to lately." Mr. Argent said as we walked into their apartment.

"But he took Scott's mother and Stiles' father, that's not a coincidence."

"Yeah, and also consider that someone wrote your name in large block letters on the elevator doors. That kind of felt like a warning to me." Stiles said.

"I think it might have been Morell. She knows a lot more than she lets on and she might even be trying to help us."

"Well she needs to get on that a lot faster, okay? Seeing as the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away."

"Stiles, we can't give up hope," I told him as he sat down.

"He could already be dead."

"I don't think so. There's something about Jennifer's tactics. It's like she's still positioning, still moving pieces into place."

"And you're one of them."

"Then let's not wait around to see her next move," Mr. Argent said, pulling out the telluric current map. "Everything she's done, she's done on the telluric current, so Melissa and the Sheriff have to be somewhere on one of those currents, right? Stiles, if we're going to find them, we're going to need your help."

"You seriously want to go after her? I mean, what if she just takes you, huh? I mean, no offense, but what's the difference between you and them?"

"I'm carrying a .45. Maybe she can heal from a shot to the leg and a few slashes to the face, but personally I'd like to see how she does with half her skull blown off. We've got one priority right now, and that is to find Melissa and your dad. We've got a map that has every clue we need to figure this out. What we don't have is time, which is why I need the three of you."

"Where do we start?" Stiles asked, finally seeing things clearly.

Mr. Argent had us gather around the table. "The place where the sacrifices have been committed have been are usually different then where the bodies have been found. I think the placement has to do with the strength of the current, so there's the school, the animal clinic, and the bank."

"Wait a second, she wouldn't use the same place twice, would she?" Stiles asked.

"Only if she didn't succeed the first time." Mr. Argent told us, shining his black light over the bank.

"Scott's boss," Allison whispered.

"Deaton. I have a feeling that could mean something."

"It's just one place so far, we're going to need a lot more help." Stiles pointed out.

I squeezed his hand. "What about Lydia?"

"Lydia? What can she do?" Mr. Argent said, confused.

"Lydia's got sort of a talent. She somehow ended up finding a couple of the bodies. Without actually looking for them," Stiles explained.

"What is she? Psychic?"

"She's something," I mumbled.

"Alright, you two go find Lydia, we'll go to the vault," Mr. Argent said, going into the closet for weapons.

Stiles and I nodded. I gave Allison a quick hug before we ran down the stairs and hopped in the jeep. Stiles reeked of anxiousness and fear, so I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We'll find him. Even if I have to personally smell one of his shirts and track him down by smell."

Stiles gave me a small smile that looked completely forced before backing out of the driveway. Lydia didn't live that far, so we got to her place rather quickly. Once we explained the situation, she shook her head.

"I don't believe it. Scott can't really be with them. He can't be." Lydia protested.

Stiles shook his head. "You didn't see the look on his face."

"And what can I do? I mean, I get that I'm some kind of human Geiger counter for death, but I don't know how to turn it on and off yet. All I know is that she tried to kill me because-"

Lydia stopped abruptly, clearly having a lightbulb moment. "Lydia, because of what?"

"When she called me a banshee. She was surprised by it. What if that's not why she tried to kill me?"

"Then why did she?"

"That's what we need to try to find out."

!

"Aiden isn't texting me back," Lydia said, putting her phone away. She'd had the brilliant idea to talk to the enemy, but clearly it wasn't working.

The two of us kept walking, but Stiles stopped. I tugged on Lydia's arm to spin her around. She seemed flustered. "Well, maybe we could-we could go over there and-"

Stiles' phone buzzed with a text and he pulled it out. When he read it, his face turned pale. "Stiles, what is it?"

The look on his face was really starting to freak me out. "Stiles, what is it now?"

"This is from Isaac. Jennifer, she t-she has Allison's father. She took him. She's got all three now." Stiles said, panic spreading across his face.

Lydia tried to reassure him by saying, "There's still time. We still have time, right?"

"Stiles?" I asked. His breathing was starting to come in pants and I could hear his heartbeat starting to rocket. "What is it? What's wrong? Stiles, please tell me!"

"I think I'm having a panic attack." He said, eyes shifting.

"Lydia, we need to get him somewhere else," I said, grabbing Stiles' arm. "Hey, I'm here, it's alright."

"The locker room," she told me, grabbing his other arm.

We led him there, and when we burst through the doors, Stiles slid to the floor. Lydia was starting to freak out too. "Just try to think about something else. Anything else."

"Like what?"

"Happy things. Friends, family-oh, I mean, not family. Oh god."

I grabbed Stiles' hand. "Try to breathe slower."

"I can-I can't." He said, starting to hyperventilate.

I put my hands on either side of his face. "Stiles, look at me. Look at me."

His eyes found mine, but his breathing was still erratic. So, naturally, I kissed him. He stopped breathing until I pulled back. That's when he realized his panic attack was over.

"How'd you do that?"

"When I kissed you, you stopped breathing." I explained, a blush forming on my cheeks at the pure love shining in Stiles' eyes as he looked at me.

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did."

"Thanks."

"I just wanted to get the attack to stop. You know, you should really see a counselor or something for those. I know you don't get them often, but-"

"Morell." Stiles said, setting off a lightbulb in all of our heads.

We ran to Morell's office, only to find that she wasn't there. Instead, there was a girl sitting in the chair across from the desk.

"Are you here for Ms. Morell?" I asked her.

"No I thought this was gym class."

I opened my mouth to rip into her, but Lydia beat me to it. "Sweetheart, we're not here for funny. Do you know where she is?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be waiting here for twenty minutes. So how about you three back out the door and wait your turn."

"We're not here for a session," Lydia said, completely keeping her cool as I seethed next to her.

"Well I am. And I've got some serious issues to work on."

"Wait, wait, wait," Stiles said moving around me. "You're Danielle. You're Heather's best friend."

"I _was_ Heather's best friend," she said, her tone softening. "We've been working on that issue three times a week."

"Hold on, did you say Ms. Morell was twenty minutes late?" Lydia asked, a lightbulb going off in her head.

"And I don't know why either, she's always on time."

"I was seeing her at the beginning of the semester. She was never late." Lydia said, turning to me and Stiles.

"Then she's not late, she's missing," I said, finally catching up.

"What if we're not the only ones who think she knows something?"

"I want to know what she knows," Stiles said, heading for her desk.

As he began rummaging through the files, Danielle leaned forward and said, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find her."

"Those files are private!"

"Yeah, she's kind of right," Lydia said pointedly.

"That one's yours."

"Let me see that," Lydia said, grabbing her file. She opened it and we both started flipping through the pages. All of the pages were tree after tree after tree. Then I realized that all the trees were the same.

"Wait, Lydia, that's your drawing," Stiles said, looking up.

"I know, it's a tree."

"Yeah, it's good too," Danielle said. I hadn't noticed that she'd gotten up and was on Lydia's other side.

"Thank you."

"No, Lydia. What he's trying to say is that they're all exactly the same." I explained.

Stiles nodded, moving toward Lydia. "You always draw it in class. Let me see your bag."

He pulled a notebook out of her bag and opened it to find a drawing of a tree. The same tree that was on all the pages in her file and all the pages in her notebook. It was a little unsettling to be honest.

Danielle must have thought so too, because she grabbed her bag and said, "Okay, you can have my session. You've got bigger issues."

I could hear Lydia's breathing and heartbeat start to speed up. "What is this?"

Stiles picked up the notebook and spun it around so that it was upside-down. Instead of a tree, now her drawing looked like a bunch of roots.

"I know where they are," Stiles said as we left the office. "It's the Nemeton. It's where she's keeping them, it has to be."

"Stilinski!"

Stiles and I looked up to see the same agent from the hospital looking at the three of us. Stiles gave me a pleading look. I grabbed Lydia's arm. "Alright, come on. We're going to Derek's."

"Why?" She asked as I dragged her away from WWIII.

"They've been there before, they'll know where it is."

Lydia made the drive to Derek's in record time. We flew up the stairs and Lydia knocked on the door. That's when I smelled someone familiar. I opened my mouth to warn Lydia, but then the door was rolled open.

"You." Lydia said, a bit surprised and angry to see Peter.

"Me."

"You," she repeated.

"Me," Peter also repeated, before sighing. "Derek! We have some visitors."

Peter walked into the loft. I moved to follow him, but Lydia grabbed my arm. I nodded at her and we walked in together. I knew she still hated Peter, but I didn't think she'd still be afraid of him, even if it was only a little bit.

"What are you here for?" Derek asked as he walked in.

"We need to know where the Nemeton is." Lydia said.

Derek and Peter looked confused and turned to me. "The root cellar."

"We don't know where it is."

"You don't know?" Lydia asked, mad.

We had come all this way for information I knew that they had. "But you've been there!"

"We _have_," Peter said. "But after a few memorable experiences there, Talia, Derek and Sophia's mother, my older sister, decided that she didn't ever want us going back. She knew how dangerous it was and took the memory of its location from us."

"Then how are we supposed to find it?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know," Peter said, venom in his voice.

I glared at him, but before I got a chance to say anything, my phone went off.

_When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would ch-_

"Hello?"

"_We've got a plan. Get to the animal clinic, we'll explain it there_."

"See you in five minutes." I said, hanging up the phone. "Thanks for trying to help."

"My pleasure." Peter said.

I rolled my eyes. "Not you. Derek, thanks. And when Cora wakes up, tell her that we should really try not to be so hostile towards each other. We're family after all."

"You mean if she wakes up."

"No. I mean when," I said, before marching out of the loft, Lydia on my heels.

"Where to now?"

"The animal clinic."

!

"Are you insane?!" I said, yelling at Stiles.

"It's the only way to find our parents!"

"What if you don't come back?" I asked, tears starting to fall. "You think I can handle _anything_ without the three of you? _Especially_ you?"

"Ace, we have to do it," Scott said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, tears streaming down my face. "I know."

"Ace, if we don't make it…you have to stop Jennifer. You, Isaac, and Lydia. Derek will help you, I know he will."

"Scott, don't say things like that," Stiles said, pulling me into his chest. "Ace, we _will_ make it out. I'll always fight my way back to you."

I nodded, my tears slowing. When I looked up at Stiles, he brushed the leftover tears from my eyes with his thumb. "I promise."

I couldn't help but give him a kiss. Fully aware of our other friends in the room, I made sure it didn't last very long. Pulling back, I turned to Deaton. "What do you need me to do?"

"It would be very helpful if you and Lydia would start putting the ice in the tubs."

I nodded and Lydia and I started doing just that. Lydia was having trouble opening the plastic bags at first, so I used my claws to rip all the tops off.

"All right. What did you bring?" Deaton asked the trio. Apparently, they'd each needed to bring something that connected them to their parents.

"Um, I got my dad's badge," Stiles said, holding it up. "Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand. I tried hammering it out a bit. It still doesn't look great."

"It doesn't need to look good if it has meaning." Deaton told him.

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac asked from his spot next to Allison.

She nodded. "My dad made it. It's kind of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

"Scott?"

"My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say it was the only thing in her marriage that ever worked."

"Okay, the three of you will get in, and each of us will hold you down until you're essentially, well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back. Someone that has a strong connection to you. A kind of emotional tether." Deaton explained. Lydia took a few steps toward Allison. "Lydia, you'll need to sit this one out."

"Are you sure? I mean, Scott and I both have to go under." Allison protested, before glancing up at Isaac. I had noticed the two of them getting closer. Apparently, Deaton had too.

She gave Scott an apologetic look, but he nodded. "It's okay."

The three of them started to climb into the tubs. Stiles looked at me and I nodded, holding back tears again.

"By the way, uh, if I don't make it back and you do, you should probably know something," Stiles said to Scott. "Your dad's in town."

I put my hands on Stiles shoulders and waited for a signal from Deaton. He nodded and we pushed them under.


	12. Episode 12

**A/N: Oops! Thank you to the guest review that let me know that I accidentally submitted the wrong chapter to the story! I must've gotten them mixed up when I was uploading. But this is the right chapter, I made sure of it.**

**Just wanted you guys to know that since season 3 has A and B, I'll be combining them into one story.**

**Make sure you review! Tell me what you want to see next season, who you want Ace to interact with in my one-shot series, etc.**

* * *

><p><strong>LastGoodbyeStolenHeart: I'm glad you like my choice for Ace! Sorry that this past chapter took so long, I had a lot going on.<strong>

* * *

><p>"I thought you said it would only take a few seconds," I said to Deaton half an hour after we'd put them under. I was playing with the strings on a sweatshirt that I'd stolen from Stiles. Wearing it helped me calm down a little.<p>

Deaton seemed perfectly calm. "They knew the risk."

My heart seemed to stop at his words. It was only now hitting me that they might _actually_ be dead. Isaac must've notice because he sat down next to me and put an arm around me. "They'll get through this. If I had to pick anyone that could die and come back to life, it'd be them."

I nodded, but my heart wasn't in it. I wanted to be able to see what they were seeing. What if they had been dead since we put them in the water? Maybe all they were seeing was darkness.

I heard people talking outside the clinic then. Isaac and I looked up as the door opened. Deaton motioned for us to stay put, but I knew those voices. I heard them every day.

"Mom!" I said, hugging them both once Deaton opened the door that led to the back. "What are you doing here?"

"Something's wrong with Ty," she told Deaton, almost ignoring me completely.

Deaton nodded, letting them in the back room. My mother didn't seem fazed at the 'dead' bodies in the tubs at all. Ty collapsed onto the floor, coughing up black blood.

"Ty?" I asked, helping him sit up against the wall. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurts."

"What's causing the headache?"

"Stop shouting," he mumbled, holding his ears. "It's making it worse."

I had an inkling of an idea. "Ty, did you get bitten by something?"

"Nothing bit me. I've stayed away from the Alphas," he said.

Lydia and Isaac gave me looks, but I ignored them. "Ty, you're a werewolf. Let loose."

He shook his head. "No, I can't. I'll hurt someone."

"No, you won't. Isaac and I can hold you back. If you let loose, it'll hurt less."

Ty nodded and let go. His eyes glowed yellow and he opened his mouth to howl, but I covered his mouth with my hand. Isaac pushed him against the wall and we held him there.

"Ty, listen to me. You have to find an anchor. Whether it's a crush at school, or your best friend, you _have_ to think of someone that can anchor you to your human side." I said, feeling like Deaton as I explained all this to him.

After a few minutes of struggle, Ty's eyes turned back to their natural blue. He was breathing normally and his heartbeat was no longer erratic. "Got it."

"He's going to have to stay here, just in case," Deaton said to my mom. "Don't worry, we're more than capable of keeping him safe. Although, if he's anything like his sister, he'll be perfectly fine."

"We're not actually related."

"You two look too similar to not be related in some way," Deaton countered. Isaac and Lydia nodded, but my mom stayed silent.

"Mom?"

"It's a story for later. You already have enough on your plate."

I nodded and gave her another hug. "Just…don't go anywhere once you get home, alright? Until I call you?"

She promised me that she would be safe before leaving. Then I whirled on Ty. "How?"

"Mom told you to stop taking your medicine. I wanted to see what would happen if I stopped taking mine."

"When did you stop?"

"Three days ago."

"And you had to pick the week of the lunar eclipse? We're going to be powerless, and you're going to feel even more drained since this is your first full moon." I explained. I wasn't really angry with him, just irritated.

"Why are their hearts not beating?"

!

After explaining everything to Ty, there was nothing left to do but wait. And wait. And wait. Isaac and Lydia could tell that I was starting to think the worst, because Isaac took Ty away from me and started to teach him what he knew. Lydia sat next to me and rubbed my back.

"Ace, I promise you that they're going to be okay."

"Are you saying that as a banshee?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, the three of them sat up in the tubs, gasping for breath. I ran to Stiles' side.

"I saw it, I know where it is!" Scott said as he climbed out.

"We passed it. It was a stump of this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore, it was cut down. It's still big though, very big." Stiles said as he wrapped his arms around me. I didn't care if I was getting wet, I just needed to feel that he was alive and he knew that.

"It was the night we went looking for the body."

"The same night you were bit by Peter."

"I was there too! I was in the car with my mother, we almost hit someone." Allison gasped out.

"It was me," Scott said. "You almost hit me. We can find it."

The three of them stopped talking long enough to notice the states the rest of us were in. I was literally clutching Stiles shirt-not easy to do when it was soaking wet and clinging to his body. Deaton, Lydia, and Isaac were looking at them a bit uneasily.

"What?"

"You guys were out a long time," Isaac told them.

Stiles looked at me. "How long is a long time?"

"16 hours," Deaton said, knowing that I probably wasn't capable of speaking yet.

"We were in the water for 16 hours?" Scott asked in shock.

Deaton nodded. "And the full moon rises in less than four."

!

"No, dude, you are not going back with them."

"I made a deal with Deucalion."

Stiles looked around at the rest of us, gesturing wildly. "Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?"

"Why does it matter anyway?" Isaac asked from his spot next to Allison.

"Because, I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help."

"Not even with our ever growing pack?" I asked him, pointing at Ty.

Allison turned to Deaton. "He trusts you more than anyone, tell him he's wrong."

"I'm not so sure he is. Circumstances like this sometimes require you to align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."

"So we're going to trust him. The guy that calls himself Death, Destroyer of Worlds, we're going to trust that guy." Isaac said, bringing the pessimism back.

"I wouldn't trust him, no. But you could use him to your advantage," Deaton said, getting all of our attention. "Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."

The bell on the door went off, causing everyone to turn. Deaton motioned for us to stay back as he went out to the front.

"I'm looking for Lydia."

Lydia and Scott headed out as I gave Stiles a confused look.

"What do you want?"

"I need your help."

"With what?" I asked as Stiles and I popped our heads out from the doorframe.

"Stopping my brother and Kali from killing Derek."

!

As much as I hadn't wanted to leave Stiles' side, Scott had insisted. Which led me to the conversation that I was currently having with Stiles on the phone.

"Stiles, just grab something. Anything with his scent will do."

"_Uh, okay, okay…I found a pair of boxers._"

"Stiles, that's disgusting. Find something else."

"_What about a pair of socks-oh my god these reek._"

"Okay, whatever, socks are fine. I'll see you soon," I said as I hung up the phone.

"What about me?" Isaac asked.

Allison and I headed toward her dad's office. "See what you can find in my dad's closet, anything with a strong scent."

She opened the door to find Agent McCall and two of his goons sitting at her dad's desk. All of the guns that they owned were strewn across the table.

"Quite an arsenal your father's got young lady." He said as he stood. I felt Scott behind us, and took a step back. Agent McCall's face when he saw his son was something I still wish I could've gotten on camera. "Scott."

"What are you doing here?" He asked, pushing me behind him.

"Following one of the only leads I have. Now since I don't know where you've been, why don't you have a seat and we can talk. You too Isaac!"

Isaac gave me a glance as he moved into Agent McCall's line of vision. "How do you know my name?"

"Your name is one of the few things I know. To be honest, the rest of what's going on around here has me stumbling in the dark. Even over the smallest clue."

"If you're trying to tell me that you don't have a clue, I learned that a long time ago," Scott said as he moved into the room.

"I'm really hoping to avoid the embarrassment of dragging my own son into an interrogation room. Really hoping."

I glared at him. "Suck it up, buttercup because you're going to have to if you want anything from us."

"I see you've been hanging around Stilinski too much." He said with a smirk.

I wanted to rip into him so badly, but Scott put a hand on my arm. Agent McCall frowned. "Sit down."

The four of us sat, with me balancing on the arm of Scott's chair. I wanted to be close to him in case he needed to reel me in.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm more than a little disturbed. Not only by the number of missing parents, but the fact that it's Stiles' father, your father, and your mother."

Isaac raised his hand, playing with the icebreakers in his hand. "Mine are both dead."

"Save the teenage apathy for your high school teachers. The four of you know more than you're saying, and I'm fully willing to keep you here all night if I have to."

"You can't keep us here," Scott said.

Allison nodded. "Not without some kind of warrant."

"I've got a desk full of probable cause."

"My father is a highly respected, private security consultant, and federally licensed firearms dealer. That means he has to own a few weapons. Like this 175 pound draw tactical crossbow. Or this carbon steel marine combat knife. 58E desert eagle. Smoke grenade, with pull ring igniter." She explained before pulling the ring and tossing it.

We left her house, Isaac and I hopping into Allison's car. Once we got to the Beacon Hills Preserve, we got out.

"Are you okay?" She asked Scott.

"I didn't know what to say to him, I couldn't come up with anything. But what you did was awesome."

"Scott, something's wrong. Stiles wouldn't texted one of us by now." I said, my voice shaking a bit.

"I don't get it."

"We can't wait for him, come on," Isaac said, tugging on my arm. I followed him, feeling completely numb inside. Something was wrong, I just wasn't sure what.

I hadn't even noticed that we'd reached our meet-up point until I heard. "Cutting it a bit close, aren't we Scott?"

"We got a little delayed. Where are the others?"

"Occupying themselves with other pursuits."

"So it's just you and me against her."

"I think you'll be surprised what a good team we make."

"Get Stiles and then get to the root cellar. We'll keep Jennifer away long enough for you to get them out of there." Scott told us.

I crossed my arms. "How?"

"I have a plan."

"I trust you," I said, hugging him before leaving with Isaac and Allison. I sent Stiles another text as we moved, unable to shake the feeling that he wasn't okay.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Isaac asked Allison.

She nodded, the storm whipping our hair around. "I know we're near it. Can either of you pick up a scent?"

"The storm's too-" I started, before my ears picked up on a high pitched ringing. Isaac heard it too because he stopped.

"I hear something. It's an emitter, it's one of your dad's."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"It has to be," I said as Isaac and I started following it. "Come on."

We ran around a corner and saw the tree stump that they'd been talking about.

"Over there," I said, pointing at a set of doors in the ground. Yanking them open, we headed in and ran down the stairs. Allison ran straight to her father and started talking to him.

Sheriff Stilinski looked at me. "Where's Stiles? Where's my son?"

I stood there frozen as Mrs. McCall spoke up. "Where's Scott?"

"Coming. They're coming to help," Isaac told both parents, giving me a look.

I snapped out of it and ran down to Sheriff, using my claws to cut through the ropes. There was dirt floating down from above us, but I didn't think anything of it. Then the ground started shaking. All of the parents had been released from their bonds, and we headed toward the stairs. Sheriff grabbed the railing just as they collapsed, trapping us inside this hole.

Luckily, none of us where hit by any debris.

"Blocked," Mr. Argent said, examining a possible escape. Then he turned to Isaac. "See anything?"

He shook his head. Something else fell, trapping us further in. I dove out of the way, pulling Allison with me. I heard her yell Isaac's name, but Mr. Argent pulled him out of the way. I heard the ceiling starting to cave in even more and watched the cracks spread to the beam that was holding up the earth above us. Isaac and I exchanged glances before moving towards it and pressing upwards.

The beam was pressing down on the two of us with more force than Isaac and I could force it up. He tried to make everyone feel better by making a joke, but no one laughed. No one laughs in the face of death.

My hands slipped and the beam came down harder, causing everyone to try to push up. Isaac started shaking his head. "We can't hold it, we're not strong enough."

My thoughts turned to Stiles and how I'd never see him again if I died in this stupid hole. I howled as a surge of strength allowed me to push the beam upwards. Just enough for a metal bat to fit between it and the ground.

I let go of the beam and hugged Stiles tightly. "I knew you'd make it."

"I always said aluminum was better than wood," Sheriff said, pulling both of us into a hug. I probably should've let them have their father-son moment, but I just couldn't let go. I'd thought Stiles was dead multiple times today.

The wind stopped suddenly and Stiles phone started vibrating. He pulled it out and I saw that it was Scott calling. "Scott?"

"_Are you guys okay?_"

"Yeah, we're okay. We're all okay. Are you okay?"

"_Sort of._"

"You think you can come get us?"

"_Yeah, of course._"

"Great, okay. Um, bring a ladder."

Sheriff started laughing, which caused the rest of us to crack a smile at least. I sighed and tightened my arms around Stiles. He looked down at me, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're never going anywhere alone ever again," I mumbled, knowing Isaac was the only one that could hear our conversation.

Stiles gave me a smile before pressing his lips to mine. "I'll take that deal."

"Could you two wait until after Scott gets us out?" Isaac groaned, making the parents laugh.

Stiles smirked at Isaac. "Does that make you uncomfortable?"

"Yes."

His lips were on mine again in seconds, and I could feel his smirk. I pushed him away, rolling my eyes. "I will not be used to torture Isaac."

"Fine," he said, pouting a little bit.

Sheriff cleared his throat, making Stiles blush. Clearly he'd forgotten that there were others here besides Isaac. Mrs. McCall was smiling at us. "As cute as you two are together, I think the rest of us agree with Isaac."

Stiles was as red as a tomato now. He tried to hide his blushing face in my sweatshirt, but since I'm shorter than him, it didn't really work. When I looked up, Allison was looking at me. She raised an eyebrow and I instantly knew what she wanted to know.

I shook my head, my own face starting to burn. Allison smirked a little, having succeeded in her goal of making us both blush.

"Where's Scott?" I mumbled.

"Here," he said, jumping down, holding the end of a handmade ladder. "Who's first?"

!

The next day, everyone that had been involved came over to our house. The only person that didn't show up was Peter, and he hadn't really been all that involved.

The adults stayed in the house, so the rest of us headed outside. Scott turned to me. "What exactly did you call us here for?"

"Well, I figured that there was a lot to talk about, so we might as well get it all out in the open." I told him. "And we have a new member of the pack."

Ty was bouncing on his heels, super happy to be involved. I'd tried to explain to him how many times I'd almost died, but he didn't seem to care. "Me!"

"Ty, you know that now that you're a werewolf, there's a higher chance that you'll die, right?" Scott asked him.

Ty nodded. "But it means I get to fight bad guys. And kill people."

"Kill-woah. We don't kill people." Stiles told him.

"Ace died for a little bit when Peter ripped off her wings. Jackson was dead for a little bit before he became a wolf. You, Scott, and Allison died for 16 hours in those tubs. And didn't you kill Miss Blake?"

Everyone turned to me. "What? I left him at Deaton's. He must've filled him in."

"Ty, we're not going to bring you in on everything. I just want you to know that," Scott explained, trying not to upset him. When Ty got upset, he became evil.

Ty nodded. "I know."

"Alright, now that he's taken care of, how is the 'darkness surrounding the hearts' thing?" Lydia asked.

Allison was the first to react. "It's there. I feel it, but I don't think I've had any consequences yet."

The boys agreed as I turned back to Scott. "So, Mr. Alpha. You're not anything like Peter or Derek. Have you tried turning into a wolf yet?"

"No," Scott said, looking at me like I was crazy.

Stiles turned to him, looking super excited. "Dude, you have to attempt the wolf thing!"

Scott groaned and we all laughed. It was nice that, at least for a while, we had nothing to worry about.


End file.
